


Helping Hand

by Ayecaptnswan



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Artificial Insemination, But it takes forever for the love confessions, Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan Fluff, Children, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Love Confessions, Pining, Slow Burn, Sperm Donor, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-10 07:46:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11122866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayecaptnswan/pseuds/Ayecaptnswan
Summary: Desperate for a baby and not wanting a random stranger, Emma Swan turns to her best friend for help and hopes he'll agree to make her dream of being a mother come true.





	1. Helping Hand

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own OUAT, any of it's cast or characters or plots. However, I am a faithful watcher and I am very interested to see how season 7 will go. This is just a prompt thing that I found online but then as I wrote it morphed into something entirely different! I figured I would try it out and see how it goes. I hope you enjoy because you all rather seemed to like the love potion one.
> 
> Helping Hand
> 
> 3rd Person

Emma Swan has worked for Jones Enterprises for nearly four years now as head of creative designs. She always loved art as a child and when her boss, the owner of the company, Killian Jones, suggested she became the leader of the team she jumped at the chance. She began working for him four years ago and has been grateful for him ever since, especially the friendship they developed over those years.

Killian wasn't exactly a massively approachable man, always working and barely took a break before he met Emma, who (since she came) has forced him to take a coffee break with her every lunch. Emma has never been a social butterfly herself, her past scarring her and putting mile high walls around her so she couldn't get close to people as easily as others.

That was until she met Killian.

He hired her when no one else would. She had been living in a run down motel and was selling off anything she could find just to make ends meet, and had spent all of her money on an appropriate outfit for the interview for an admin job at his office. It had rained like hell and she'd turned up drenched, miserable and hardly hopeful.

But as luck would have it, Killian had been the exact same, having been late to work since his car broke down and had to run from the bus stop. He had been halfway to the office when Emma had been going the same way and offered him her umbrella to share, which he accepted before they realized who the other was.

It's safe to say they laughed quite hard before he'd given a half-assed interview and gave her the job, which she excelled at and had helped him with ideas so much that he promoted her to head of creative designs.

Since she began four years ago, she's prided herself on being independent, strong and never needed help, not ever, although she doesn't turn it down when Killian offers to help her. Sometimes she does, but it's rare considering he's her boss and she actually rather enjoys hearing his input.

Killian probably knows the most about her than any of her friends for years, the only man she can trust completely (aside from David but do foster brothers count?) to always stay by her side. Killian, David, and Mary Margaret have been the only constants in her life, and only they know her darkest secrets she'd never tell anyone else.

Only those three people know she's an orphan, that she grew up being bounced from home to home, never knowing her purpose. The only three who know that she felt so adrift for such a long time like she didn't belong until she got her job, the only three that know and will ever know about her teenage pregnancy that ended in a stillborn she's never fully gotten over.

It was after she had her baby and lost him on the same day that she vowed to become something better for her child, to be a better person, get an honest job, and a year later she had met Killian, and he'd learned everything.

They're the only people in the world, aside from Doctors and Nurses, who know that nearly two months ago she decided she wanted to have another baby. She's financially stable, has a good apartment on a safe street, a safe building with nice neighbors. But all of that aside, she has friends to help her, a fantastic boss who's also her friend and will understand, and she really, _really,_ wanted a baby.

Initially, Emma had wanted to consult Mary Margaret seeing as she's a mother to a little boy who adores Emma, but she knows that if she asked her anything that everyone would know by the end of the day, and David would tell Mary Margaret since they're married- plus, she doesn't really want to consult her brother first. So she had gone to her best friend, to Killian:

_Emma walked into his room, playing with her hands, her nails picking at her other nails, her hair up in a ponytail to stop her from chewing it. "Killian, have you got a moment?" She asks, seeing him on his computer, not seeming overly busy._

" _For you, always." He winks, smiling. "What's up?" Killian asks, twirling in his chair a little to face her as she sits on the chair opposite. "You look nervous, you have on odd earrings, your hair is up so you won't bite it and your nails are all chipped, what's wrong?"_

_She blushes at how well he knows her, running her hands over her thighs with a nervous sigh, deciding to bite the bullet and just tell him. "I want a baby." She swallows at how confused he looks. "I know I might sound crazy, since what happened…before. With, well-"_

" _Not crazy." He whispers softly, standing and walking around his desk to kneel by her, looking both admiring and confused. "But…I fail to see why you're telling me, I mean it's not like I'm your husband or anything of that type of nature-"_

" _You're my best friend." She whispers, biting her lip. "I-I really want this. I keep seeing mothers in Granny's when we have lunch, I see Mary Margaret and David with baby Leo, I see you with your new niece, I…Killian, I want this." She blinks back her tears. "I needed your advice, your support, please support me on this-"_

" _Swan," He whispers, cutting her off and taking her hands. "I support you, of course, I do, I always will unless I think it's stupid. And this isn't stupid, I completely understand. My only real question is how?"_

" _I hope you know how babies are made-"_

" _No, love, I mean how because I know you. I know you don't want to just…find some man and do it. That's not you. So, how? And how can I help?"_

_She swallows softly, staring at him for a moment, obviously debating it in her head before whispering softly, barely audible. "Sperm donor." She plays with his hands gently, stroking his knuckle with her thumb. "Uhm, that's how."_

" _How can I help?" He asks. "Do you need contacts? Do you need someone to go with you, someone to be there after or during or whatever? What do you need?"_

_She stares at him for a moment, her eyes trailing over his face, and sniffles, blinking back her frightened tears, terrified of his reaction, and coughs once. "I, uh, I want…you." She whispers fearfully. "I have been debating this in my head for so long, so many months, spoken to my doctors and nurses and so many women who have done it. Some of them said their only regret was not knowing because they don't want to have to explain it all later to the child."_

_He still looks confused, obviously not understanding her meaning, and quirks an eyebrow. "Uhm, okay? I don't quite get where you're headed with this."_

" _Killian, I want you to be the father." She whispers, watching his face morph from confusion to something she can't place. "Before you say no, hear me out, please?" He gives a small nod to continue, and she can't help but smile at the fact he always lets her explain herself, knowing she's bad at words._

" _Okay, Swan, continue." He whispers._

" _We've been friends for years, we know each other so well, I practically live at your place, I'm there every night, we both aren't dating so there's no girlfriend or boyfriend to factor into the equation, I trust you, we know each other's medical history, our kid would want for nothing and it'd be super cute because, I mean, have you looked in the mirror?" She tries to joke. "And I know you want a family, that you're worried by the time you find someone it'll be too late and you can't have a family. I know you want to be a dad just as much as I want to be a mother and this way we get that."_

_He had nodded along with her words, agreeing with the points she made and presses a gentle kiss to her knuckles. "C-Can I think about it at least?" He asks. "Five minutes ago I was writing an email about selling a ship, now I'm thinking about becoming a father. I think I need to think before I agree or disagree-"_

" _Take as much time as you need." She whispers softly. "I am not pressuring you, I promise, I just know I'd regret it if I didn't ask."_

That had been a week ago, a long week, probably the longest week of her life.

Luckily, Killian hadn't changed around her, still acting the same as usual when they had lunch, joking around and flirting, but she hoped it stayed that way. She didn't say anything to their friends, hoping he didn't either as he knows how private she'd want to keep this. Just between them until he agrees or disagrees.

She really hoped he agrees.

* * *

After a week, on a Friday exactly seven days after she had asked, he texts her, asking her to come to his like usual, as if he knew she had been debating it. She initially thought about declining, in case she said something stupid, but declined the idea in her head. He was her best friend, hopefully, he always will be and she won't let her fear of rejection stand in the way of that.

After they ate their regular Friday night take out and were nursing two beers, he finally turned down the volume on the television, coughing once. "Swan?"

She bites her lip, glancing at him nervously like she knows he'll say no, like she's terrified of hearing the words and hearing her dream crash and burn. "Yes?" She whispers, the light from the TV flashing on her nervous face, eyes wide and afraid.

He stares at her for a moment, taking a sip from his beer. "I want to be part of my baby's life." He whispers, watching her eyes fill with hope like he's never seen from her before. "Promise me that I will be as involved as any bloody decent father is. I want to be there for the appointments to get the inseminations, the check-ups, the pregnancy tests, and the scans, even the bloody birthing classes. Promise me?"

Emma quickly nods, placing her beer on a coaster on the table (since it's cold beer and he has a wooden coffee table, he won't have marks on his furniture, no thank you) and taking his from him to place it next to hers. "As long as you promise to keep it that way." She whispers, smiling wide.

"Then yes." He smiles softly, gasping when she practically throws herself at him, laughing softly as he hugs her back, stroking her back. "Yes, Swan, we're having a baby." He whispers, chuckling at how strange it sounds.

"We're having a baby." She cries happily into his chest. "Thank you, thank you so much." She whispers, pulling away and kissing his cheek. "You're so amazing, you're going to be the most perfect, wonderful, amazing, dad okay?"

"And you'll be a wonderful," He takes her hand and kisses her knuckle, wrapping her arm around him so he can pull her closer. "Lovely," He kisses her forehead, stroking her hair gently like they always do when she falls asleep in his arms, cuddling because it's comfy or too cold. "Amazing, brilliant, fantastic mother." He kisses her hairline again gently, smiling. "Now, what do you say we look at doctors tomorrow and talk money?"

"I've been saving, I think I found a good doctor who'd be willing to do it-"

"No, no." He immediately stops her, stroking her hair back a little so she can look up at him. "I'm all in, we're doing this together. That includes payment and picking a doctor and all of it, okay?"

"Okay, but only if you're sure." She whispers, smiling wide. "Thank you, thank you so-"

"It's okay, no thank you's are necessary."

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks, they pick a doctor together, deciding whom they want and when it'll happen. Emma sits in the waiting room as the nurse takes him to a room to 'deposit his specimen' and she tries to ignore the giggle that bubbles up in her throat at the thought of him having to do it in a cup. He comes back thoroughly embarrassed and quite red, but he sits with her and waits for her exam before they're taken into a room where she sits up on the bed, looking around.

"This is fun." She had commented casually, giggling when Killian was playing around with some of the doctor's equipment and was holding onto forceps, playing with the tongs until he had heard Emma's laughter. "Killian, that's used to hold open a ladies vagina in childbirth and assist the baby out-"

He quickly drops them with a loud crash onto the table, wiping his hands on his trousers quickly, wrinkling his nose. "Couldn't have told me that before could you?" She shakes her head and he can't help but laugh, sitting on the chair next to her as the doctor walks in.

"Miss Swan?" She nods to confirm it's her. "Doctor Henley, nice to meet you." The woman shakes both her and Killian's hands. "I'm just going to an internal examination and ask you some questions before you set up an appointment to be inseminated, it's just procedure so don't worry."

Emma nods quickly, blushing as she knows exactly what an internal examination entails, and smiles softly at him when Killian takes her hand as a sign of support that he'll only leave if she wants, which she doesn't. He wants to be all in, and that includes being with her for the awkward stages before she's pregnant.

After the hard part is over and she's dressed again, sat in an uncomfortable hospital chair next to Killian, the doctor asks her some mildly inappropriate questions for Killian to hear, but he doesn't seem to mind.

(If he does, he doesn't mention it, which she's very grateful for.)

"Miss Swan, do you have a history of pregnancies, miscarriages and live births?" Her doctor asks, noting in her head the way Emma swallowed roughly before nodding. "Care to elaborate?"

"I got pregnant as a teenager." Emma answers, leaning marginally closer to Killian and he squeezes her hand for comfort. "I…l-Well, I was seven months and there was a complication…an incident more like and I…lost him." She whispers, blinking back tears. "That's why I waited and why I spoke to my personal doctor about this before and why Killian is here and why I want another…I might sound crazy or whatever, but, this is all I want, and I'm going to be so much more careful than I was before."

"The complication slash incident, what was it? If you don't mind sharing of course." The woman leans a little forward in her chair, looking sympathetic, obvious feeling sorry for her but she manages to hide it well.

"I slipped," Emma states, wiping at her eyes. "I was working as a waitress in some diner, trying to make enough money, I wouldn't accept help from my foster brother who was trying to make it easier on me. I had this crappy apartment that I thought I could actually make into a home despite the fact he offered for me to live with him and his wife, but I didn't want to accept the help. So I was working and I slipped on some water, hit my stomach as I fell."

Her doctor nods, writing this down discreetly as Killian wraps an arm around her to comfort her. "I'm sorry." She says softly. "But, the good news, at least, is that it's not because of any complication with you personally, which means you are able to try again, and this time you have someone there who I can tell isn't letting you be as independent as before, in the best way."

Emma nods quickly, offering her a smile and takes the handkerchief that Killian keeps in his pocket to wipe her eyes, knowing he always keeps it there as his mother gave it to him before she died and he'd hate to part with it. "Yeah, he's pretty great." She says softly. "I wouldn't be surprised if I was being wheeled around in a chair before I'm even showing."

Unable to help it, Killian chuckles softly, pressing a kiss to her hairline. "Maybe a couple of weeks after, eh love?"

The doctor smiles before moving on, obviously not wanting to upset her any more than before, so she carries on as swiftly as she can. "What's your current method of contraception?"

With a small laugh, Emma answers softly. "Not having sex in a year."

Killian ignores the small feeling in his gut of relief.

After a few more interesting yet both uncomfortable questions, the doctor finally moves onto him, and he sits up a little straighter, having looked it up online so he was prepared for whatever the doctor asked him. "Mr. Jones, have you fathered any other children before?" He shakes his head quickly. "Have you ever had any infections, surgeries or hernias?"

"Only for my hand." He holds up his fake hand, twisting it off to show the fact it wasn't real, blushing softly at the doctor's surprised face, obviously not having expected it. "I used to be in the Navy, got into an accident, lost my hand." He shrugs, having made his peace with it.

In reality he nearly lost his brother but by some miracle, Liam Jones had made it after spending quite a long time in a coma, but he was completely recovered now and had been quite supportive when Killian had met up with him to tell him about his decision to be a donor for Emma, but that's a story for another time.

"How are your lifestyle habits, meaning how much exercise you do, your levels of stress, caffeine, alcohol intake, do you smoke? How often if you do?" She asks him softly, not seeming at all concerned about any of the things she asked him about like she knows his answers.

"I take a jog every morning, except Sunday's where I go to the gym. Emma and I go boxing on Thursday afternoons. As for stress, I own my own company with my brother, all of our clients and suppliers or whoever else are all very friendly, and it's hardly as stressful as it could be. I drink a cup of tea every morning; sometimes coffee but not often and I have a drink with my mates at the pub at least once a month, but it's usually only a glass or two of rum since Emma is usually there and I would prefer not to be hammered around her."

The doctor chuckles softly at this, nodding along with his words and writing down what she needs to write.

"As for smoking, I only have a cigar with my brother at New Year, as we always have."

"That all sounds wonderful, Mr. Jones. Lastly, are you on any medications, over the counter or otherwise?"

"Only over the counter pain medication if it's needed, which isn't often as Emma is quite the healer, she has far too many remedies to try before I would turn to pills." He jokes softly, making Emma blush softly, smiling wide.

The doctor pretends to ignore a number of times he's mentioned being better for her, doing things to make her happy, sounding much more like a husband than a good friend.

"Thank you, Miss Swan and Mr. Jones, is next Wednesday good to begin the insemination process?"

They both nod quickly, wearing matching smiles, and Emma resists the urge to cry from how happy she is that she's finally going to have a baby, that they can do this and it's all okay.

"Yes, that's perfect."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's committed to be fully in, to have a part, and every day he just proves how honest he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own OUAT, any of it's cast or characters or plots. However, I am a faithful watcher and I am very interested to see how season 7 will go. This is just a prompt thing that I found online but then as I wrote it morphed into something entirely different! I figured I would try it out and see how it goes. I hope you enjoy because you all rather seemed to like the love potion one.
> 
> Helping Hand
> 
> 3rd Person

With a sigh, Emma places her mug down at her desk; staring at her phone at the recent photo of baby Leo that Mary Margaret has just sent her. The little boy is only four months old and is always smiling, in the photo he has a giant grin on his face as David kisses his cheek, and Emma can't help but feel happy for them.

Also slightly envious, but only one tiny percentage of her is jealous, I mean that's hardly anything. She loves her little nephew and loves all of the photo's Mary Margaret sends her, but she's jealous. Okay, she's two percent jealous. Three maybe, but that's not a lot. Three percent of her being jealous is hardly-

It's more like twenty percent if she's being totally honest.

She walks to the printer to grab some papers she'd sent to it a few minutes ago before she had her coffee, musing on her thoughts when Gideon comes up next to her. "Emma, can I talk to you?" He asks softly, curiously more than anything else, and she nods as she watches her papers print. "I heard something earlier."

"What else is new?" She asks sarcastically, laughing a little at her own wit.

"With you and Killian. I heard you two in his office, I saw you through the window, you were crying." He states simply, eyeing her. "Are you okay? I heard the word…baby a lot, maybe I'm wrong, but-"

"You're not wrong," Emma admits, thinking back on her conversation with Killian earlier, and her stomach twinges a little from pain, the lovely reminder she's being given about her period that started that morning.

_She sighs, putting her phone down and walking into his office. "Killian, are you busy?" She asks softly, making him look up at her so she has his full attention. "I just thought you might want to know…I got my period this morning." She says miserably._

_He sighs softly, standing and walking up to her so he can hug her. "I'm sorry, Swan." He whispers into her hair._

_They've had two insemination tries so far, both unsuccessful. That's two months of no news, no positives, nothing that even hinted they were having a baby, and she was miserable. She was scared too because after the third try they would have to be tested again and then have the awkward questions again, which took weeks to process._

_They didn't want to have to do it all again, they really thought the second time would work. First tries never usually work so she didn't expect anything then, but the second time she was really hopeful. However, that morning she got her period, which officially crushed her dreams._

" _I really thought I was pregnant," Emma whispers softly, sighing into his neck, sniffling. "I just…I felt pregnant. I…I really thought that maybe I could be, I felt sick all the time and I was sore and dizzy and all of the things I should be, but…maybe I must have just been sick."_

" _Swan, I promise, you will get pregnant." He whispers into her hair. "I promise you, okay?"_

" _Okay."_

Gideon raises an eyebrow at her, frowning a little. "I'm not wrong, I was really expecting I would be." He chuckles softly. "Are you pregnant?"

"No." She sighs, frowning. "Killian…I've asked him to be my donor, he said yes but I'm not pregnant yet." She shrugs, feeling a bit like a failure. "We're doing artificial insemination and we've tried twice, in two weeks we have our next try, apparently that's when my stupid ovulation calculator says I'm ovulating so…"

"I really didn't need to know that, in two weeks would have been fine." He chuckles softly and she blushes. "Well, I hope that it goes well. Who else knows you're trying?"

"The doctors, Killian, me and you." She shrugs, playing with her necklace a little. "We're waiting until we're successful in doing anything." She admits. "Please don't tell anyone, we really don't want to get our hopes up yet, you know?"

"I promise, Emma, no one will know apart from me until your ready," Gideon assures her, making her more thankful than he probably knows that he's her friend. "Now, I also promise that this time next month you'll be practically singing because you're so happy that your dear old pal Gideon was right that you're pregnant."

"I don't sing, but I will hum just for you if you're right."

"I'll count that as a win."

* * *

Emma looks around the room with a sigh; sipping her water from the plastic cup Killian got her a few minutes ago. She turns to her friend, smiling softly, and bites her lip. "It shouldn't be too long now." She muses, her nails tapping on the plastic gently.

"I know." He offers her a small smile, offering her his hand for comfort, which she takes gladly. "We have done this twice before, remember?" He chuckles, trying to make light of it, but the reminder just makes her look away. "Third time lucky?"

"Third time lucky…" She repeats in a whisper, looking at their hands. "I…after this try, if it's not successful, it means more tests, more doctors. I didn't think it would be this hard to get pregnant, you know? My friend had artificial insemination and it worked first try, I guess I just sort of hoped I would be the same."

"I know, Swan." He says softly, trying to think of how to comfort her, not used to the situation they're in. She's his best friend, the one woman in his life he's one hundred percent certain he can trust, the only woman who's never let him down no matter how big or small something is. "But it will happen."

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one having to sit there when you bleed for a week crying." She admits, before feeling awful for her words. "I didn't mean that I didn't mean to make it sound as though you didn't get a say or that-"

"I know you didn't." He smiles to show he's not upset but hides the fact her words did, in fact, hurt him. "I don't understand that side of it, but I do get sad when it doesn't work. And not because I think it'll never happen, but because I know how much it's killing you. I know how much you want to get pregnant, how much I want you to be. So…you're not alone. I'm here."

She sniffles and smiles at him, squeezing his hand. "You always know what to say, huh?" She whispers. He knows she's scared of being alone, of course, he does, he's her best friend and (hopefully) father of her child. He's committed to be fully in, to have a part, and every day he just proves how honest he is.

"I hope so. Hormones and mood swings will be hard to deal with so I have to know what to say." He jokes, making her giggle softly, and presses a kiss to her hairline. "Now…say this with me?"

"Say what?"

"Hope is a very powerful thing, so I want you to say to me, out loud and so I can hear you, before the doctor comes. Say 'I will get pregnant'."

She scoffs softly at his suggestion but knows he wouldn't do it unless he had a reason. "I will get pregnant. I will get pregnant." She whispers but he raises an eyebrow. "I will get pregnant." She says a little louder and he smiles.

"This is our third try and it will work. In a few weeks, I'll be holding a positive pregnancy test and smiling wide."

She sighs and wipes at her eyes a little before coughing, repeating his words. "This is our third try and it will work." She swallows and continues, smiling softly. "In a few weeks, I'll be holding a positive pregnancy test and smiling wide."

"Killian Jones is amazing, super sexy and I'm glad he's my baby daddy."

She laughs loudly, smacking his chest, making him chuckle. "Okay, okay, baby daddy, you made your point!" She giggles when he kisses her hand, looking up at him, biting her lip softly. "You are pretty amazing, and I am glad you're the baby's dad when I get pregnant."

He smiles wide, pressing his nose into her hair, thinking. "And you're amazing too, baby mama." He whispers just as the doctor comes in, and he pulls away to sit on the chair by the hospital bed.

"Miss Swan, Mr. Jones?" The doctor asks and they both nod. "Great." She places her files down onto a tray and rolls it in, putting up the barriers on the side of the bed so Emma won't fall as she lays back. "Are you comfortable?"

Emma nods quickly, blushing, and Killian props her pillows a little bit so her neck won't hurt. "If I said I was, would you judge me really badly?"

"Not at all."

"Then I really am, and I think I should get one installed at home," Emma states simply, making the doctor laugh softly. "Maybe if I'm lucky, Killian will do it." She jokes and pokes his cheek, making him take her hand.

"Not likely." He mumbles into her skin as he presses a kiss on her knuckle, something she's noticed him doing a hell of a lot more since they started trying. "Maybe I'll get you a new mattress that isn't so high up for when you're massively pregnant, eh love?"

She hums, smiling. "I guess that's okay, but you also have to buy the duvet covers." She deals and he rolls his eyes but nods his consent. "Maybe a matching one for when the baby gets older-"

"I think matching beds is too far on the 'Mom and Baby' goals on the Internet, okay?" He chuckles and she shrugs. "Don't be one of those mothers, I beg of you."

"I promise I will not hashtag our son or daughter for the whole world to see so long as you promise not to take the baby to meetings so people will just agree to deals since you're a daddy."

He blushes because that's probably exactly what he'd do. "Fine, I'll just bring the baby because I want to show him or her the perfect presentation preparation and show them exactly what to do to wow their audience."

She rolls her eyes, pretending to ignore the way he deliberately used alliteration to prove a point, only making himself sound geekier than usual. "So long as mama gets to watch too."

"Well of course." He winks, holding her hand closer.

Twenty minutes later, after the doctor has done what needs to be done and the questions are over, Emma is getting dressed again when Killian asks her something from behind the curtain.

"Swan…do you want a boy or a girl?" He asks curiously, thinking about it himself. "Since you're super pregnant right now because you will be, what would you prefer?"

"Well, I would be happy with anything." She shrugs, coming out from behind the curtain dressed again. "Why? Do you have a preference?"

He shakes his head quickly, holding her jacket out for her and helps her shrug it on. "Not at all, I will love and put my utmost devotion to our child no matter what gender he or she is." He shrugs. "I guess…I have always seen myself having a girl first, but it wouldn't matter to me, I'd love either a girl or a boy."

For a split second, she imagines Killian with a baby girl, smiling at the sight in her imagination of him holding a tiny pink bundle, cooing down at her as Emma tries to get a peek at their newborn. Their baby has just been born but she's already so beautiful, and the doctors tell her how healthy she is and Emma's crying from how happy she is before Killian kisses her and-

Okay, whoa. That was new. Why would Killian be kissing her? No, she doesn't think that will ever happen, she doubts he's ever even considered her in that way, she wouldn't blame him.

She shakes her head to rid herself of these thoughts, straightening her jacket in an attempt to look casual. "I think that Killian Jones has been put on this earth to raise a daughter." She says softly, slowly smiling nervously. "I hope I can give you one."

He wraps an arm around her gently. "I hope so too."

* * *

Emma stares ahead of her, barely focusing on the TV that's blaring since both she and Killian can't hear it past their food wrappers as they eat. She thinks as an advert for pregnancy tests comes up on screen, glancing at her bag to the test she knows is in there.

" _The only pregnancy test that tells you how many weeks."_ The woman on the TV says, making Emma close her eyes, sighing.

"Could they have said that any more irritatingly?" She asks Killian, not even looking his way like she knows he's looked at her. "She sounds so condescending. I'll bet she has a nice house in the richest area, with the best schools and the perfect husband, two children she had naturally and didn't lose one. I'll bet they got pregnant first try both times, and maybe they even have a little dog and a cat…the perfect life."

"You know all of this, how?" Killian raises an eyebrow.

"She has the voice for it. Like a mother who doesn't know what it's like to lose it." She whispers, frowning, and swallows her saliva as it builds up in her mouth. "Like she knows everything and she has a perfect life, pretending that she wants that for you too."

"Okay, I sense your irritation is stemming from three weeks ago at the doctors." Killian puts his food down, turning to her as she plays with the wrapper on her burger. "What's wrong?"

Emma sighs, taking a bite of her half eaten burger, chewing before swallowing, and washes it down with her lemonade before turning to him. "I saw a pregnant woman today, with her husband. They get the train every day to work, they've always been joking around with each other." Emma whispers. "They're the perfect couple."

"You know that for sure?"

"I've watched their relationship grow." Emma shrugs, frowning. "They were friends, partners really, they're detectives. She wanted to strive to be better and he was a prankster, always getting on her nerves, like you and me." She smiles at the thought, making him smile too.

"Sounds nice."

"Looks it." Emma points out. "He had a girlfriend and she had a boyfriend, but for a while he went away from the train, only to come back single, but she was still with this guy. They were more awkward like she knew he liked her because I knew he did. But then…on some random day, I was on my way to work on the train and they were holding hands, looking so happy, and he all but announced they had sex the night before, their first time."

"Smooth." Killian chuckles softly, taking her hand gently like he knows it's going somewhere.

"After about five months of dating, I think, they moved in together, as he announced that too." She smiles at the memory of the two strangers smiling so wide and talking about home preparations. "And then one day she was there with this huge engagement ring, and then the next thing they have matching wedding rings and I thought…that's it. You know? That…that is them."

"But?"

"Then she was gone every morning, but I saw them on the way home together, for about two or three months. But then I was out shopping with Mary Margaret today, on my day off as you know, and I saw them cuddled up. In the corner of the seats, a photo in their hands, their other hands resting on her stomach, whispering about how it wasn't planned but it was so perfect."

"That's great isn't it?" Killian whispers softly, holding her hand close gently. "That you got to watch their relationship grow in that way?"

She nods. "I know him…I felt like I know him. Like I've met him before and neither of us remembers for some reason like it's a memory we blocked out."

"And is it? Do you know this random stranger? Because that's kind of cool if you do." Killian chuckles nervously. He doesn't like where this story seems to be headed but he's listening anyway.

"I met him five years ago." She whispers, licking her lips. "I only realized it today. When I lost my son, he was there." Emma closes her eyes, picking out the memory. "He was eating his lunch or something, I-I fell and he called the ambulance."

"Swan, that…I'm so sorry." He whispers. "I don't know what to say, has he recognized you?"

"No, no, I would never mention it." She shakes her head. "But it's…I don't know. I went home and just cried because they have everything, Killian. They have everything I want and he's a nice guy and she's probably lovely." She holds back her tears. "And this…it's karma."

"Karma? Like what goes around will come around?" He raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"It's karma, for being so stupid before, for losing my baby before!" She gets angry, snatching her hand away from him quickly. "It's my fault! Because I didn't listen and I didn't try hard enough and now I can't have one at all!" She cries softly and he reaches for her but she stands, keeping her distance. "They have everything I want!"

"But, Swan, we're trying. I-I don't know what to tell you. You will get pregnant-"

"And if I don't? We're back at _square one!"_ She cries softly, hugging herself a little. "More doctors and hospitals and more inseminations, more disappointments, and failures!"

"Swan, it's not a failure-"

"You don't know what it's like, Killian!" She exclaims, more in frustration. "You have no clue what it's like to feel the pain every time I get my period, that little reminder every month that I failed!"

"Lass, you haven't failed!"

"I failed me and you and I failed my son by failing this!" She exclaims, pacing around as she blinks back her tears. "Unsuccessful, that's what they _say,_ but what they mean is I'm a failure!"

"Swan!"

"I can't even get pregnant, what kind of mother does that make me?" She sobs, sitting in his armchair, burying her face in her hands. "I'm the worst mother in the world, I can't even have your baby!"

"Swan, Emma! Listen to me." He whispers, taking her hands gently. "You are not a failure! You are going to be a bloody fantastic mother, okay?" Killian kneels by her, pressing kisses to her palms, letting her calm down. "Just…breathe."

She does as he asks, breathing in and holding it, biting her lip. "I'm going crazy here, I just want to take that test, I need to take it." She whispers. "But the thought of seeing the negative-"

"It'll be positive." He assures her, going to her bag and passing her the test gently. "I will be there every step of the way, darling. I will sit next to you and whisper comforting thoughts like grilled cheese and chocolate…you are not alone. I'm here. Now go pee on a stick for our future eh?"

She giggles softly, nodding quickly and standing, letting him lead her to the bathroom slowly and he closes the door to give her privacy.

After a few minutes, she steps out, clutching the test close in a tissue, sniffling softly before handing it to him. "Twenty seconds left, you look, I'm too scared. If it's negative just throw it away okay?"

He nods slowly, taking the test gently, glancing at the test for a moment. "And what if it's positive?"

She bites her lip, swallowing softly. "Then smile wide and show me." She sniffles, pacing for a moment but notices his eyebrow raise a fraction of an amount. "Well?" She asks.

Killian smiles, turning the test around slowly, revealing the result to her and she grins wider than she probably ever has in her entire life.

"We're going to have a baby, love."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's chapter two! I hope you guys liked it. I also hope you're all seeing the subtle yet noticeable teenily weenily little hit that are popping up about a romance...maybeeeee. Also, I super duperly loved Gideon so he's a supportive little bean okay!?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It just doesn't feel real to her, not since they looked at that positive pregnancy test.
> 
> She's really pregnant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own OUAT, any of it's cast or characters or plots. However, I am a faithful watcher and I am very interested to see how season 7 will go. This is just a prompt thing that I found online but then as I wrote it morphed into something entirely different! I figured I would try it out and see how it goes. I hope you enjoy because you all rather seemed to like the love potion one.
> 
> I apologize that this took far longer than I anticipated, I've had exams and things so it's been rather hectic. But my last exam is tomorrow and from then on I should be more and more active, I should post more chapters and all that. Thank you all for the lovely comments and kudos and reviews and favorites and follows, it means the world to me! :)
> 
> Helping Hand
> 
> 3rd Person

Emma sighs, staring at herself in her mirror, thinking, and tilts her head to the right. She's six weeks pregnant now, with an appointment for an ultrasound (their _first_ ultrasound) was later on that afternoon.

It just doesn't feel real to her, not since they looked at that positive pregnancy test.

She's really pregnant.

Killian's supposed to meet her any time now, she should get dressed before he turns up and she's only in a bra and jeans, staring at herself in the mirror to see her flat stomach. She can't help it; she's too excited about this.

Ever since they found out she was pregnant three weeks ago they've never been happier, well she thinks so. She's never been happier, but Killian isn't her boyfriend or husband or romantically involved with her in any way, shape or form. They're just having this baby together, as best friends, as parents, but that's it.

She doesn't know why that makes her disappointed.

The knock on her door makes her throw on some random top that's easy to get on and off, rushing and opening the door as she pulls on her shoes in a hurried manner. "Sorry, Killian, I lost track of time." She blushes when he doesn't see all that shocked, he knows her well enough to know she's too excited to be on time.

"It's alright, Swan, don't rush yourself." He states softly, watching her pull on her shoes, reaching out to hold her up gently, keeping her steady. He's quickly become more and more protective of her since she became pregnant, but she never complains or says anything about it to him.

She likes the attention, whether it's for her or the baby it's nice for him to care so much.

"No, no, I should rush, I'm already making us late." She shrugs, grabbing her bag, pulling him out with her quickly, double-checking she has her keys quickly before she closed her door. "Okay, let's go." She smiles wide.

When they're at the doctors it's filled with the same awkward questions and the strange looks the doctor sends her whenever Killian holds her hand or keeps her generally close, safe. He's only doing it for the baby, she knows that, but it's nice to think that he would care about her too.

I mean she knows he cares for her, they've been best friends for years and she's not sure how anyone could or would put up with her unless they cared at least marginally for her. No one else apart from him, Mary Margaret and David have ever cared for her enough that she knows it. So she's not great at reading his emotions ever since she's cared for him too.

But she thinks he does anyway.

If not, she'll cry about it later.

It's not until the doctor has her lying back on the bed, her head resting on Killian's arm (just because it's the most comfortable, nothing else), with the doctor moving the wand on her flat stomach, that she finally gets the sense of how real everything.

The screen flickers for a moment before the image comes up. The image being inside her, and the subject of the photo is the fact there is a tiny little baby bean there. It's tiny, really tiny, and it literally looks like a coffee bean.

She remembers when Mary Margaret and David showed her their baby Leo, how she didn't think it was that much, just a bean, nothing special or too new or exciting. But it's so different when it's her baby, their baby in fact. The little bean inside her is a mix of her and Killian, not David and Mary Margaret.

" _You know…if you squint and turn your head ever so slightly to the left it looks like an old potato." Emma had stated, looking at the photo of the baby, not feeling anything for the little bean that Mary Margaret was currently growing._

" _Then don't do that." David had deadpanned; frowning a little and turning her head back the way it was meant to be. "Look, Emma, isn't he beautiful?"_

" _Could be a girl."_

" _Emma…" He warned and she sighed, handing him back the photo of the baby._

" _I'm sorry, it's just…babies really aren't my thing. It's not the same after you lose one." Emma had whispered, playing with her hands. "I'm so sorry for not being more excited, I've probably ruined all the stupid happy feelings…I'll just go." She had stated, grabbing her jacket, and had promptly run out of the apartment._

Emma certainly felt something now. "I…that's it?" She whispers softly, blinking back her tears, blaming her stupid hormones in her head, but the doctor didn't seem phased by her crying, only nodding. "Killian, that's it." She turned to him.

Killian, however, was already preoccupied staring at their bean, his eyes wide and the hint of moisture filling them. "Wow." He had whispered simply, obviously not in the position to talk, but Emma just smiled fondly.

"I would normally ask but I don't think I need to, photos?" The doctor asks and they nod quickly. "How many would you like?" She asks softly, on her computer and ready to bring them out.

"I…uh…" Emma thinks, sniffling. "Four?" Emma suggests softly, looking over to Killian to see. "One for each of us, one for Mary Margaret and David, one for Liam?"

"Uh, yes, four would be fantastic, thank you." He says croakily, looking away for a moment to hazard a glance at Emma, obviously wanting to say something to her.

_I love you._

But he doesn't. Instead, he just leans up and kisses her forehead, nuzzling his nose into her hair for a moment before leaning close to her ear. "Thank you." He whispers, pulling away.

Emma smiles wide, taking his hand gently on the edge of the bed, her thumb brushing over his own, fiddling with the ring there, for some reason wishing he had said something else, wanting to say it herself.

_I love you._

But she doesn't, not believing the words she thinks. "Thank you too. For everything."

He hates that his heart sinks.

* * *

They tell no one.

They have the photo's ready, for Mary Margaret and David and for Liam. But they don't tell them. They had wanted to, they really did, but it's like an unspoken rule not to say a word until you're at least three months along because then there is less chance of miscarriage.

She hates the thought that they have to wait for that reason, but they do anyway.

Killian hates not telling his brother, he tells Liam everything, but he doesn't say a word to the man that basically raised him. He just tells him that he had a good date with someone or that he had a great lunch whenever Liam asks why he's smiling or looking at his phone so much, texting Emma.

His brother thinks he's in love with someone, and that he's texting them.

He is. And not just with the baby.

* * *

When Emma is finally at twelve weeks along, they want to tell people, they're ready too. But then again, they have another ultrasound, one in which they'll be able to hear the baby's heartbeat, and they think it would be nicer to have them hear the baby's heartbeat after they tell them.

Killian has arranged for his brother to come over his for dinner, while Emma has invited Mary Margaret and David too, and they're all prepared for the questions.

As they wait for the doctor to find the baby, Killian recites all the facts he's learned, as he does every week, proving how many baby books he's read and remembered virtually every line to.

"All the baby's body parts are now there, but they need to develop." He states factually. "And her intestines have moved into place in her abdomen."

"Mh? That's interesting, she's still so small." Emma mumbles softly, popping a mint in her mouth as she listens.

"For the next 28 weeks, her systems and organs will develop so she's ready for life on the outside." He smiles, looking like the smug little bastard he is. "She has developed the startle reflex, which means she can now hear sounds, and then she can react by opening and closing her arms and legs. Isn't that cool?"

" _He_ can do so much." Emma smiles wide, sucking her mint, glancing own where her tiny bump is forming. "How big is _he_ again?"

"Grapefruit." He answers easily, looking at her bump, smiling at the curve that tells him their baby is there. "But I'm sure mommy is feeding _her_ so many burgers and fries now that she's bigger." He chuckles, thinking of her cravings being burgers instead of grilled cheese nowadays.

"And what's going to happen to me this week, daddy-o?"

"Oh! I know." He thinks for a moment, obviously racking his brain. "Your jeans, trousers, dresses, and skirts are probably becoming snug, so I got you a belly band in case, which you can put on until it's time for maternity clothing."

"Mh I couldn't fit into my skinny jeans yesterday, I'll be taking that band."

He nods like he knew that. "As your uterus," She wrinkles her nose. "Moves from the bottom of your pelvis to the front of your abdomen, you should need to wee less."

"Oh, I like that. Thanks, uterus!" She giggles softly.

"Mh, anyway. That being said, you might feel dizzy as a replacement. If you feel dizzy or faint, tell me, then lie down with your head lowered between your knees, taking deep breaths and then I'll give you loads of sugary snacks."

"Okay, oh no on the being dizzy thing. But yay on the snacks." She giggles and holds his hand close. "Anything else?"

"Yes! Apparently-" He gets cut off, staring at the machine and she turns to it, smiling as it's the baby on the screen.

She's had to get more scans than a usual woman would if she's pregnant, considering the fact she lost a baby only a few years ago and Killian has no qualms in helping her pay the fees despite she doesn't need him too, she's saved.

By helping her, she means paying them altogether. She literally hasn't even paid for her lunch. She's supposed to be independent as she always is, she doesn't need help, but she remembers what happened the last time she refused help. And the fact he always picks up the bill for lunch is quite sweet like he knows she'll try to.

Damn him for being such a nice guy.

It makes it hard not to love him.

"He's huge," Emma whispers happily. "Like…is he meant to be that big yet?"

"Yes, Swan, she is." He smiles wide. "She's perfect, even if she is a he."

They've had a bet since the six-week mark on what they're having, with Killian one hundred percent certain he'll be the first Jones for centuries to have a girl (considering his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all had boys only), beating Liam because Liam always thought he'd be the first. Killian is one hundred percent sure that he'll be the one to change things.

He'd love a boy too, but he really likes being right.

Emma has bet it's a boy since the beginning since they flipped that pregnancy test together. It's her mothering instincts, plus Gideon did some weird hippie-physic crap on her and it said she's having a boy. But then again it also said her baby would have four heads, and the baby looks very normal, at least to her.

They know it's total crap, but they used some old myths and legends to help them discover what they're having.

She's been craving salt more than usual, hence the fries, which gives a point to the boy column of what they're having. The stupid Chinese birth calendar said girl, however, which made her mad. They even did the Drano trick, which she really didn't want to do at first.

" _Killian Jones, don't you dare even look at me with that Drano in your hands." She had said as she was glaring daggers at the orange bottle her best friend held. "I am not peeing into anything, especially that!"_

" _Just try it, it could work?" He suggested hopefully._

" _No. Never will you ever get me to try that stupid trick." She had laughed._

" _I'll buy you lunch."_

" _Give me the bottle."_

He had brought her lunch twice since then. So at least he didn't back out on his promise. He also brought her dinner and breakfast, but that's unrelated. And the stupid Drano trick ended up being green, which meant girl.

She really hates Drano.

After that, they had tried the key trick, one she hadn't heard of before, and she picked it up by the narrow part, which meant she had to prepare for sugar and spice and everything nice because again (to Killian's enjoyment) it was a girl.

However, she hasn't been breaking out in spots, unlike that stupid rumor she'd heard that the baby steals the mother's beauty.

It's Killian Jones baby, he or she does not need to steal beauty from anyone.

Lastly, she's had quite a lot of morning sickness, until about ten weeks she hadn't been able to walk around that much without being sick, which meant they're having a girl.

She doesn't believe it, they're just myths and legends and tales. How could that tell her what baby they're having? So no, she still stands by having a boy.

The doctor presses a button on the screen, making her raise her eyebrow, but then this sound fills the air, sounding like a skipping rope as it goes around and around, but no. She knows exactly what that is, and so does Killian.

"And that is your baby's heartbeat." She smiles softly at the pair. "Strong, steady, very good. She or he is perfect, Miss Swan, Mr. Jones."

"Of course she's perfect, have you seen her mother?" Killian jokes softly, pulling out his phone and recording the sound to play later on for about twenty seconds before putting his phone away.

"Shut up," Emma whispers happily, blushing softly. "She is perfect cause of her father."

"She?" Killian smirks, making her roll her eyes. "You just said she."

"No, I didn't." She denies softly. "I never said that you couldn't prove it."

"Witness of a doctor, you said she." Killian chuckles, stroking her hand gently, and winks at her. "Well, I will forever remember this when our _daughter_ is born that you admitted it."

"When our _son_ is born, I'll prove you wrong."

"Keep believing that."

* * *

That night, after pretending there was a mix-up and that's why they're all there, Emma and Killian watch everyone finish their dinners before exchanging a look. "We have something to say." Emma coughs once, standing up with Killian, taking his hand gently.

"Oh my god, you're dating?' Mary Margaret asks excitedly.

"Oh dear God, please don't be dating," David mumbles jokingly, but smiles softly.

"I like guessing games. I'm guessing they got drunk married in Vegas." Liam smirks, shrugging when everyone seems to look at him in unison. "What? They've been in love for years, marriage is only logical."

"He makes an excellent point."

"Guys! We are not married or together." Killian quickly tells them, smiling wide. "I…about five or six months ago, Emma came to me asking for my help. She asked me to be her donor-"

"Emma!" David looks at her worriedly. "What did you need? Blood, organs…are you sick? I could have helped!"

"Sperm."

"I could not have helped."

Liam stifles a laugh, coughing a couple of times to cover it, and Killian blushes when they all begin to realize. "Wait…why did you need sperm? Wait…have you two had sex?"

"No, and I wanted a baby, obviously. What did you think I needed it for?" Emma asks, wrinkling her nose. "To rub it all over myself like lotion? No thank you, I'll just take a baby, like really-"

"Anyway." Killian cuts her off smoothly and wrapping an arm around her waist gently. "Emma and I have been doing the donor process and she's pregnant." All of their jaws seem to drop a little. "And this morning we had our twelve-week scan. "

"Oh." David frowns, thinking. "So you're not together, but you are having his baby and he is involved?"

"Yes, yes and yes," Emma says looking more nervous then before if that's possible. "We're happy this way, really. We both wanted a baby, we're best friends, we're always together, it just makes so much sense."

"And what about the things that don't make sense?" David asks. "Like when you both go off and get married, that baby is a living thing, a baby means big things. You can't just willy-nilly decide to have one and not think about the fact that one day you'll move jobs, move homes, get girlfriends and boyfriends-"

"We have thought about that," Emma says softly. "I'm not planning on moving jobs for a long time, it's Killian's business and he's not planning on selling-"

Liam coughs once.

"Okay, Liam and Killian's business and neither are planning to sell up, relocate or anything like that, we don't want to move homes and we've promised that for the first couple of years we're not dating, all our devotion and time and money will go to the baby."

David nods slowly, sighing, but seems to accept this. "Well… if you're certain, but why didn't you tell us until now?"

"In case something happened or the treatment didn't work," Killian states simply, knowing he would ask. "And we didn't want anyone at work knowing until Emma starts showing more, you know what rumors can be like, we want them to find out from us later. When we're ready for the questioning."

"But this is us? You could have told us before, we would have understood!" Mary Margaret pipes up.

"But we didn't want to risk it."

"More like you didn't trust us." The brunette woman crosses her arms, obviously upset. "You didn't trust us enough to tell us anything!"

"We do trust you!" Emma exclaims, frowning, and her hand goes to her tiny bump gently.

"I told you the second I found out I was pregnant with Leo-"

"But this is different, Mary Margaret, I'm not you, and this isn't just my decision, it was Killian's too."

"So Killian doesn't trust us?"

"Mary, dear, I think you're blowing this out of proportion." Liam leans back in his chair. "Isn't it great? They're having a tiny baby, one that will be loved and cared for, it means you can brag to the other teachers at school and buy the baby all those cute booties. It means you can give Emma pregnancy tips, take her shopping, everything. I think it's bloody brilliant."

Mary Margaret seems to consider this before smiling a little, her anger vanishing at the thought of them having their little one. "This is great! I'm going to be Aunt Mary!"

Killian and Emma breathe a sigh of relief, hugging Mary Margaret as she pulls them into a bone crushing one, and Killian sends a 'thank you' mouthing to his brother, who just gives him a thumbs up.

When he glances back at Emma he can't help but smile wide at the happiness radiating off her face, one he's sure matches his own happiness. They've finally told them and apart from one mishap, it went very well. The looks on their faces show that, and he knows he probably won't be this happy again until the day the baby is born. Emma will probably look just as beautiful then as she does now, and he wants to tell her, wants to shout it from the rooftops just so she knows.

_I love you._

But he doesn't, not now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack, thank you for reading! :) This means loads to me, I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know in the comments, please? Or kudos, anything really. It means the world to me when people do it because it does give me inspiration! :) 
> 
> Also, the couple from the last chapter may or may not make another appearance, you never know! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killian is one of those strange people on trains who actually cares about others, taking an interest in what they're doing, listening in on their conversations, hearing how other people's lives are doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own OUAT, any of it's cast or characters or plots. However, I am a faithful watcher and I am very interested to see how season 7 will go. This is just a prompt thing that I found online but then as I wrote it morphed into something entirely different! I figured I would try it out and see how it goes. I hope you enjoy because you all rather seemed to like the love potion one.
> 
> Helping Hand
> 
> 3rd Person

Killian groans loudly, slamming the door of his car shut, frowning. "Great, just bloody brilliant!" He yells at no one.

Of course, on the one day he needs it to work, his bloody car decides to break down after it's recent MOT where the guy said it was perfect but he made some adjustments just in case.

He wishes he knew that guys name to drive to his house and kick his ass for five square miles.

Oh, wait, his car isn't working so he can't even drive there.

After sending a quick text to Emma, he rushes to the train station, waiting for nearly ten minutes for the poxy train to come, praying that it'll hurry up. He had a meeting soon, and if he didn't make it in time Emma would have to fill in for her.

Killian thinks she's more than capable of handling it, better than himself, in fact, he's a friend with everyone who'll be there and they're all nice people, but he doesn't want Emma to have any unnecessary stress on herself.

She's nearly four months and two weeks pregnant, which he has taken great pride in telling his friends now that they can, telling anyone who will listen, and this is the stage where her hormones will be out of focus, so he won't have more stress than usual placed upon her.

He'll just have to hurry his ass up, run if he has too.

Luckily for his lungs, heart, and legs, the train come before he can go on a full sprint. He's not unfit, he has a jog every morning, but the greasy, unhealthy lunches that have been happening since Emma got pregnant have meant he can't have a lunchtime jog either.

He'll take spending time with her over his jogs any day. Just to see her smile.

With a sigh, Killian steps onto the train, taking his seat opposite a couple who seem more engrossed in reading a baby book to their small baby in his carrier than anything going on around them, and Killian raises an eyebrow, hiding his smile. It's not often he sees something so sweet on the horror of public transport so it's safe to say he's a little surprised.

"And then, Johnny," The woman reads clearly like she does it a lot and knows exactly what to do and say. "The man said yes Miss and a cup of tea." She reads aloud before finishing, and Killian realizes he must have come at the end of the book.

"I don't think he likes that story." Her company says softly, chuckling, before kissing his wife's cheek. "Maybe try The Very Hungry Caterpillar?"

"Good idea!" She exclaims happily, rooting through her bag to find the book, and Killian watches with interest.

Killian is one of those strange people on trains who actually cares about others, taking an interest in what they're doing, listening in on their conversations, hearing how other people's lives are doing. He knows it's rather rude to eavesdrop, but he likes knowing when someone had a good day or sympathizing with someone who hasn't.

However, watching these two he's interested because he'll be them soon, he'll be reading baby books to a tiny little one who relies on him and loves him, except him and Emma won't be married, and he'd probably be the one reading while Emma chimes in with her comments.

The man across from him gives him a proud look when the baby smiles as its mother reads to him. The look that screams 'that's my kid, look, I made that, he likes what I like' and it makes Killian chuckle.

One day that'll be him, one day, he promises himself.

He just hopes Emma is there too.

* * *

When he gets into work he tells her about the sweet family, after his meeting that went quite well, sipping water with her since she's not allowed coffee. "They looked quite the match, I'll say. Very sweet, and I think the baby was named Johnny."

Emma laughs softly, smiling, before pausing. "Wait, did the woman have black hair and like these big brown eyes? Like so big I'd give her a cookie if she asked? And she was wearing a pantsuit, hair in a tight ponytail?"

"Yeah, that's her." He shrugs.

"And the man, did he have on like a blue work shirt that looked pretty casual, joking around a lot, weird facial expressions at everything, basically threw heart eyes at his wife, brown hair, had an NYPD badge?"

"Okay, you either know them or you're good at this game." Killian chuckles and sips his water slowly as he hears her describing the people. "Yes, exactly right, Swan, that is them."

"Yeah that's the couple who I was really jealous of, remember? On the night we found out I was pregnant, that was who I was crying over. They're so good together right?"

"Mh, very." He smiles, taking a sip of his water as he pulls out his phone, looking through his emails. "Crap, I'll be back in a second, I have to make a call." She nods and smiles softly as he kisses her forehead, watching him walk away.

As Killian leaves, his place is immediately taken up by Regina, one of Emma's colleagues who she's technically the boss of, and Emma raises an eyebrow. Regina never comes to see her, not unless she wants something or needs a mind to poison, and Emma swivels in her chair to face her with her hand laying protectively over her little (but growing) bump. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Regina slams a file down on her desk, before placing her newly manicured hands on her hips, her face the image of pissed off. "For some reason, I now have to go over your work according to Killian, to lower your stupid stress levels!"

"I…I really didn't know he did that, but he's probably right too, I have the really bad baby brain. I keep on saying your with an r instead of re when I'm saying you are, it's really bad." She shrugs, stroking her bump. "Why are you telling me?"

"Because I shouldn't have to do your work, I know you are far more than capable! It's just because Killian is up your ass, keeping you happy is his main and only priority, keeping you and that baby happy and not stressed. You have it so easy, Emma!"

"I wouldn't say easy is the word that I would use, but apparently, you're going with that."

"You only got this job because your Killian's friend and he loves you, you're only still here because he's in love with you and has pathetic delusions that you love him back! You're hardly good at your job if you can't even do it just because you're pregnant with your little spawn."

"I think it's about time you shut up and go back to work," Emma warns, her face turning cold and irritated. "And I swear, one more insult to me or my baby or my baby's father and I will have no issues with firing you for being in contempt and unprofessional in the workplace."

Regina scowls at her with hate in her eyes, but grabs her file and storms off, making Emma sigh unhappily, wondering what's made Regina so irritated, thinking about her words.

She's just so happy that Gideon has watched the exchange from across the room where he's filing something away, and he rushes off for a few minutes before coming back, a steaming cup of hot cocoa in his hands. "Here, I hope it helps, she's been in a bad mood since you guys said you were having this baby."

"Does anyone else feel that way? And thank you." Emma smiles softly, taking the mug carefully and sips gingerly, humming when it tastes brilliant, Gideon makes the nicest cocoa apart from Killian's.

"No, not at all. Everyone else is thrilled!" Gideon assures her softly, making sure she knows everyone else is behind her. "Don't tell anyone that I told you but Aurora from Human Resources is making up a gift basket, and I put up a picture of the ultrasound on Killian's desk for him when he didn't want to take it out of his wallet but wanted to look every now and then."

"Thank you." She smiles gratefully. "I'm sure he loves it."

Gideon chuckles, nodding quickly. "Oh yes he does, he thanks me every time he sees me." He sips from his own coffee mug, thinking. "But anyway, you don't worry about Regina, she's all bark and no bite. Everyone here knows she's all talk but buckles under authority, like dogs against cats."

She laughs softly, knowing exactly what he means. "Thank you, Gideon, if you weren't here I'm pretty sure I'd go mad or cry, I don't know."

"What are friends for?"

* * *

Emma is sat in the café, sipping some hot cocoa as she waits for Killian, tapping her nails against the wooden table, and hums some tune she heard on the radio, thinking.

She considers strange things like why the man making coffee has a tattoo on his wrist and not his bicep, why the lady making sandwiches has purple hair, why the old lady next to her keeps whispering to her husband about their grandchildren every time Emma so much as moves. She ponders the fact that there are two teens that probably shouldn't be there during school hours doing last minute homework as they eat doughnuts.

Alas, she doesn't get long to ponder before she spots a red-haired lady she knows quite well, one she's been avoiding since the Regina conversation. Her sister, Zelena Mills, is the red-haired lady in question and she's making a beeline for Emma as soon as she sets her eyes on the blonde. "Emma."

Zelena has never been horrible to her, sometimes sarcastic and a bit bitchy about things like how she takes her tea (apparently it's too milky and Killian bitches about it with the redhead so it must not be meant horribly) or what shows she watches, however, Zelena is very good at her job and has offered her pregnancy tips since she found out, so she isn't all bad.

However, now she has a feeling Zelena might not like her.

"Zelena, how did you know I was here?"

"You and Killian made plans this morning to come here instead of Granny's, I didn't just guess." Zelena shrugs before settling in the seat opposite Emma, sighing. "I came because I knew you'd be alone."

"That doesn't sound stalker-ish at all," Emma comments dryly.

"I just came to apologize," Zelena states simply, making Emma raise an eyebrow. "For my sister, she was out of line and rude and just horrible to you. To be honest, you don't deserve that, especially not the things she said about your baby, and we all know how much it means to you that you're having him or her."

"B…Wait…you aren't going to defend your sister?"

"No. I wouldn't defend her if I know she's wrong, which she was, however…I do ask that you don't take it to heart, don't fire her. I know she was wrong, but, and don't tell her I said anything?"

"I promise." Emma sits up straight.

"Regina and her husband Robin are unable to have a baby, so seeing you pregnant and then her have to cover you for it might be making her a bit resentful, and definitely envious."

"Oh god, I'm so sorry, I had no idea that they couldn't have a baby. I'm sure if Killian knew he would have never done that."

"I know and she knows that too, he's a really good boss. It's just…it must be a sore spot, so I hope you take it easy on her?"

"Absolutely."

* * *

After Killian finishes work for the third day since his car broke down, he's on the train again, standing and leaning against a pole as he moves with the train, looking around to see anyone interesting and when he doesn't, he instead pulls the ultrasound out of his pocket and looks at the photo of their tiny baby.

It's something he's found himself doing more and more often, staring. Just looking, reminding, remembering that he has a little baby that he loves more than anything on this earth.

Well, Emma is an exception.

He thinks about her as he stares at the photo, wishing he could be with her, wishing he could have held her hair back in the first few months when she was sick like a dog, wishing he could go out and get her ice cream at four am just because she's craving. He even wishes he could be there for the unpredictable mood swings that she's been facing, all on her own when she's at home, and it makes him anxious.

_I love you._

It's funny how easy he can think the words, practice saying then in his head like one does before they order food, standing in front of a mirror and pretend he's telling Emma, sounding confident when he says the words.

But then as soon as she's close he freezes, settling with longing looks and doe eyes with the occasional kiss on the cheek. He sounds so pathetic, even to himself.

Someone coughs from behind him and he goes to move out of his or her way but they stop him. "Oh, no, I didn't mean move. Sorry, it's just, I saw the sonogram photo and wanted to say congratulations."

Killian turns to face the person, recognizing him as the man he's been seeing every morning for the past three days, the man who knew Emma before Killian even did, but hides his surprise. "Thank you, we're very excited."

"I'll bet I've been there." He chuckles, leaning on the doors, obviously reminiscing on his own son that Killian sees so often with him. "I'm Andy, by the way, you're new. On the train I mean, not in life. I mean you must be old enough to have a baby and all of that so you can't be new in life, that's crazy, please shut me up."

"I'm Killian." Killian offers him a hand and shakes his, chuckling. "It's okay, I'm kind of a bubbling mess around new people, and the baby's mother. I'm a nervous wreck around her." He looks at the photo. "The thought of her makes me both terrified and so, so happy."

"I was the same, my wife and I were happy but scared, it's only natural, and I promise you that."

"Except…she's not my wife." Killian purses his lips. "I'm her best friend slash donor."

He doesn't know why he's revealing so much, possibly because he sees this man every day, has seen so much of his life and already knows so much yet he knows nothing about Killian. All he knows now is that Killian is a sperm donor for his best friends baby and that he's a colossal wreck around her, which (admittedly) would not be the best Tinder profile, in fact, Killian is rather surprised that he doesn't seem phased.

Instead, Andy just takes a glance at the ultrasound. "Emma Swan is the mother?" He asks curiously. "I've seen her on here, every morning, except not recently."

"I order her a cab every morning, public transport can be dangerous if no one is there to support her and she's hugely pregnant, but don't tell her I said hugely if you see her."

"Got it."

"But…how do you know her name? I mean I've been getting the train for a few days and I only just learned your name." Killian ponders, already knowing the story but wonders if he remembers too.

"Oh, uh, a little while back I kind of helped her out and she had to tell me her name to do something for her." Andy shrugs; looking nonchalant about the fact he might have saved Emma's life that day since he was the only one who bothered to help her. "It's all part of the job, though, to help." He directs Killian's attention to the NYPD badge, before shrugging again.

"You saved her," Killian states simply. "In a diner, I believe she said. When she fell into the table, you helped her. So…you saved her, and I'm eternally grateful you did." He says sincerely, making the other brunette male look rather surprised. "I just wanted to see if you remembered, she remembers you well."

"I would never forget, I was scared for a woman I didn't know, probably would never know, and I wanted to save her. That's how I knew I'd be good in the NYPD, helping. It's what I'm good at."

"I'm sure she'd appreciate knowing that you remember."

"You think?"

"I know."

Andy nods slowly, eyeing him for a moment like he's using his detective knowledge and skills, humming. "You want to know what I know?" Killian nods and gestures for him to go on, interested in what he thinks. "You're in love with her."

"Tell me something I don't know." Killian chuckles.

* * *

Killian stares ahead at something, or rather at someone, David thinks as he watches the brunette smirk at something across the room.

They were having dinner at Killian's, nothing special except for the fact they wanted to talk about the baby with the soon to be parents, and Mary Margaret was more than excited to help Emma with little tips during her pregnancy.

However, David had thought he could just give Killian a pat on the back and say congrats, but now he has to give him tips. He's just lucky Liam is there, or so he thought. But Liam wasn't exactly the most helpful guy to have around considering him and Elsa have no children and don't seem to want to.

"Why do women have to give tips and insist their husbands do the same?" Liam had complained, sipping his beer. "God, pregnancies freak me out. Someone inside someone else, and coming out nine months later, no thank you!"

"Where exactly are you intending on being when you and Elsa have a child one day?" Killian asks distractedly.

"We won't, not yet anyway." He shudders a little. "She gets shivers whenever someone mentions it."

"Okay, theoretically, where will you be?" David asks, looking to the older Jones brother.

"In the waiting room handing out cigars and cracking jokes." Liam shrugs and Killian can't help but chuckle.

"So, my brother seems to think this is the fifties." Killian comments and Liam punches him in the arm. "Well I, for one, intend on being next to Emma, holding her hand, coaching her through it."

"Yeah but you're in love with her." Their both shocked when Killian doesn't deny it like he usually does. "What? No comeback?" Liam frowns a little. "Or…"

"You're right." Killian swallows softly, watching as Emma holds up a maternity dress from Mary Margaret for him to see, giving her thumbs up. "I love her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know loads of you are waiting for them to have sex, and to be honest I would be too if I were you, but I said slow burn and unfortunately I meant like super slow burn :) So sorry, but not yet. Maybe soon though... Also, I had a reviewer saying that their friendship without the sexual tension does not convince them (if you're reading now, I had to use Translate because I don't know what you said, I think it was Portuguese, so I'm sorry if I got it wrong) but I didn't want this to be that way. I have chosen to write this as a slow burn, tentative, contemplative and sorta sensitive fanfiction. I don't want to be like everyone else with the sexual tension stuff, so this is just my style you know? I mean thanks for the feedback and I appreciate it greatly, but I just wanted you to know that this is a deliberate thing. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oh god, I'm so bored." She whispers. "What's next? Singing ballads?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own OUAT, any of it's cast or characters or plots. However, I am a faithful watcher and I am very interested to see how season 7 will go. This is just a prompt thing that I found online but then as I wrote it morphed into something entirely different! I figured I would try it out and see how it goes. I hope you enjoy because you all rather seemed to like the love potion one.
> 
> Helping Hand
> 
> 3rd Person

Emma glares at her feet as she props them up on the coffee table, staring at her newly painted toes that took over an hour to do.

She's just over five months pregnant and it's safe to say she's never been more miserable. She's independent above all else, she likes working and she's good at it, but for some reason Killian has decided to take that away from her, and she's not sure why.

Well actually, she knows why. He's asked her to take the next two weeks off because they had a huge job that had some quite demanding people which meant her working twice as hard and being quick and able to move as fast as possible, but she can't do that with a bump the size of a blown up balloon under her shirt.

So, for the last week she's been alone and bored out of her mind.

She can understand why Killian wanted her to stay off, and she's been doing menial jobs that she's needed to catch up on from her computer that Gideon and Killian have been sending her just to keep her occupied and to pass the time.

However, it's not enough. She's never been one for menial jobs; she needs to be doing more. She's even had Mary Margaret round to try and help her learn how to knit and crochet, however it hasn't resulted in anything except ten pairs of booties staring at her, all in different sizes and colors depending on how she feels.

She made this pair of pale yellow ones that she's desperate to show Killian and see on the baby, she even made matching socks and is working on a little beanie hat. She might even go the full way and try making a cardigan but she isn't sure she wants to embrace that Granny side yet.

(Granny made a little blanket, and she's working on another one, waiting for a name.)

Emma thinks as she waits for her toenails to dry, pursing her lips in and out a couple of times, making strange faces at her TV since she can see herself in the reflection, before making a series of weird noises that resemble an animal in heat.

"Oh god, I'm so bored." She whispers. "What's next? Singing ballads?"

* * *

Emma dances a little as she watches her TV, hovering her carpet, using it like a microphone. "Tonight the music seems so loud, I wish that we could lose this crowd!" She sings loudly, swaying a little, getting into it more. "Maybe it's better this way, we'd hurt each other with the things we'd want to say!" She sings along, trying to keep up with the fast pace.

She gets a little too into it, dropping her hoover, dancing around, forgetting her earlier boredom. "We could have been so good together, we could have lived this dance forever…But no one's gonna dance with me," She sings in high pitch loudly, hurting her own ears. "Please stay!" She practically yells, clapping her hands and wiggling her ass.

"And I'm never gonna dance again, guilty feeling got no rhythm-" She cuts herself off when her phone rings, rushing to it and narrowly missing falling over her hoover, answering quickly. "Hello?"

"Swan, hi, are you alright?" She smiles at Killian's voice, not realizing how loud her music was until he pauses, and she hears him click his tongue. "Love, are you listening to George Michael while dancing and singing to Careless Whisper again?"

"Never." She lies, turning the music off quickly. "I was listening to…not that." She coughs once, laying her hand on her growing belly as she presses the phone between her shoulder and her ear, reaching down to grab some crisps from the cupboard.

"Mh, anyway, I called to check up on you. Are you and the carrot doing?" He asks softly.

"Carrot, that's how big he or she is?" He hums his assent and she smiles. "Well me and Mr. Carrot are doing just fine, he likes George Michael, and he's moving around like crazy."

"Kicking?" Killian asks hopefully, the baby kicked last week and he nearly went into melt down, practically crying from happiness.

He had been talking to her bump, as he always has been like he's anticipating a kick, and suddenly he had jumped up, his hand still on her belly and smiling as wide as she had ever seen him, announcing that their baby had kicked his hand.

She had felt it too, nodding quickly, and she had lifted her shirt to see the baby's little foot imprint pressing against her belly, and had cried when Killian traced the baby's foot like it was something more beautiful than anything he had ever seen.

_I love you._

No, no she doesn't. It's just the stupid pregnancy making her think she does, seeing him being even more amazing than usual, and her hormones are crazy. Emma Swan doesn't love in that way.

Emma loves Mary Margaret and David, they are like the parents she never had, she loves Killian as a friend, her best friend. She loves Gideon as her friend, the same way she does for Zelena and August and everyone at work she considers to be a friend, but she also loves a good bearclaw and kittens and making stupid but adorable booties.

She loves their baby more than anything, and it's that love that's making her think of Killian.

She can't be in love with Killian Jones, she just can't, he's her best friend and the father of their baby but she doesn't love him like that.

She can't lose her best friend.

"No, not kicking, just moving, fluttering around, letting mama know how he or she is feeling." She says softly, playing with her crisps for a moment. "But we're bored, and singing helps with that."

"Six days, Swan." Killian says softly. "That is it, nothing else. Then you can come back and we'll rest easy knowing you're okay. I promise."

"I know, and I understand." She strokes her belly gently with the hand holding the crisps, rattling them around loudly. "We understand that daddy is very protective, and as annoying as it is, we love it."

"Mh, I hope you remember that over the next six days." He chuckles.

"I won't."

* * *

Emma ends up eating so much she has to empty her bins, trudging up and down the stairs to throw everything down the garbage chute, sighing every time, but does it.

She's coming back up for the second time, looking at her phone as she gets a text from David, walking up the steps but misses one, not seeing it from where her face is practically pressed against the phone, and goes down face first, hitting her belly against the step hard, gasping in pain and dropping her phone.

Getting over her shock, Emma strokes her belly, groaning in pain softly, and turns to sit on the step normally, looking for her phone, quickly grabbing it and frowning at how smashed up it is.

For a few seconds she waits but then she feels a shooting pain in her abdomen again and she cries out, her hand stroking her bump again. "No, no, no." She whispers to herself. "Not again, please not again." She blinks back tears, finding Killian's name on her phone as quickly as she can.

He answers on the second ring and she practically sobs at the sound of his voice. "Swan? Is something wrong? Did you just realise George Michael is dead again? You cried for hours at Christmas and I'm not sure I have the patience to deal with it again."

"No!" She sobs, stroking her belly faster. "I-I fell." She cries. "I fell on the stairs, my stomach really hurts, and I hit my bump on the stairs!"

"W-What? Swan…how? What happened? Have you called an ambulance?" He asks quickly, immediately concerned.

"I-I-I was bringing my trash down and I was walking up the stairs, I looked at my phone because David text me and I missed a step and I fell- I can't do this again. I'm so scared, please come now, please, I can't-"

"Swan, love, listen, everything is going to be okay, just breathe slowly for me okay darling?" He whispers, and she can hear him rushing, hear the wind brushing past him and she knows he's running. "Can you do that for me?"

She nods, sniffling, breathing in and out slowly, but it's shaky to start with and she holds back her sobs. Determined to listen, to take his help, she takes in another breath, holding it for three seconds before breathing out again, doing it again an again.

"Good, you're doing so well. Again."

She carries on until he comes.

* * *

Killian had arrived within fifteen minutes, and by that time he was there with the ambulance crew, whispering comfortingly to her.

She had been in a hospital bed and calmed, being dosed on some painkillers and lying down within half an hour, her gaze flickering from Killian at her bedside and the doctor as she got the machine ready to do an ultrasound to check up.

They were meant to have one to tell what gender they're having, not to tell them if she's lost their baby.

She'll never forgive herself.

After five minutes, the doctor is showing them their baby on the screen, and she can't help but smile, because it's their baby no matter what, and that alone is enough to make her smile. However, she doesn't actually feel any better until the sound of their baby's heartbeat fills the room.

"That is a very strong, very steady, very undisturbed baby's heartbeat in there." The doctor tells her softly, making her cry in relief, turning to Killian to see him looking like the world has been righted again after nearly collapsing.

"Oh thank god." Killian whispers under his breath, holding Emma's hand closer and pressing a kiss to her knuckle, before leaning close and kissing her tear away on her cheek, keeping his nose pressed against hers for a moment. "Hear that, the baby is perfectly okay."

She nods quickly, smiling wide, and lifts her head up a little to look up at him, blinking back her tears, and cups his cheek. "The baby is okay." She practically laughs with happiness.

_I love you._

Killian nods, leaning into her hand for a moment, closing his eyes and only opening them two seconds later. She looks into his eyes for a moment before kissing him gently, pressing her lips against his, feeling him kiss back, but pulls away as the doctor moves the wand against her stomach again.

_I love you._

"Yes, she looks absolutely perfect." The doctor tells them, and both their heads snap to her, making her look confused before reaching out to check Emma's file. "Oh, you didn't know…well it's a girl." She smiles, making a 'tada' motion awkwardly.

"A girl…we're having a baby girl." Emma whispers, looking up at him, her hand stroking the hair at the back of his neck. "You were right."

"I'm not even going to brag." He smiles wider, pressing his forehead against hers. "A girl." He whispers, nuzzling her nose for a moment before kissing her again, needing her more then ever, needing to keep this moment in his brain forever..

They're having a daughter.

* * *

Emma sighs as she watches the moving men leave, spotting Killian slipping one of the men some money as a tip for helping. "Thanks for doing this on short notice, mate." He says sincerely, before walking up to Emma, looking rather sheepish. "Swan…"

"I didn't know I'd be moving so fast." She crosses her arms under her breasts, and Killian has to ignore the way it pushes them up so he can see more. "You said you wanted me to move in, to make sure we're safe, you didn't say that I'd be moving by the end of the week."

It was after the doctor had left that he'd struck up the agreement with Emma, one she hadn't been expecting in the slightest.

" _Swan…" He sighed. "This is my fault, I shouldn't have made you stay home, I should have been with you, taking care of you and making sure you were okay, I'm so sorry."_

_Emma had frowned, taking his hand and pulling it closer. "Killian, this is not your fault. I should have been looking at what I was doing instead of my phone, okay?" She whispered, and places his hand on her belly where the baby was kicking constantly. "She's okay."_

" _But if she wasn't, if you weren't-"_

" _We are."_

" _You might not have been." Killian had stated finally, swallowing his courage, thinking. "I…Swan, I want to be there more. You're doing this mostly alone, I-I need to do more, I can't just see you during the day anymore."_

_Emma had stroked her bump slowly. She understood why, Killian wasn't the kind of man who would be happy to just be a temporary, if his love for the baby wasn't enough, Killian Jones wouldn't duck out of being a father, and that means doing it fully, not by half. "So what do you want to do?"_

" _I want you to move in with me." Killian had told her after a moment of silence, hazarding a glance at her. "I have bedrooms downstairs, that way you don't have to go up the stairs for anything. The house is big, no one else lives with me, and I have a huge garden where you can go sunbathing or whatever it is you want, even just a walk."_

" _You also have a life. I mean, you have a dog, and he's important."_

" _And you two are that life. Also, please don't compare that damn dog compared to our baby daughter and yourself, you know it's not the same thing and you also know that any time you've been at my home, Mr. Smee has been quite protective of the baby."_

" _But Killian-"_

" _Please."_

So she had agreed, she's never been able to resist it when he says please.

They still haven't spoken about the kiss, and she hopes they don't. She didn't mean to kiss him, it was just a spur of the moment thing, and she hadn't meant to practically throw herself at him just because she was happy.

_I love you._

No, she doesn't. She doesn't love him. That kiss was just a spur of the moment thing, she doesn't need to have these ridiculous intrusive thoughts telling her otherwise, she knows whom she loves and doesn't love.

She loves Killian as a friend, nothing more; it's just her hormones making her act this way. Emma just hopes her moving in doesn't change all of that. Well, she hopes it doesn't change them.

She wouldn't be able to live with it if she lost him.

But that doesn't mean love, does it?

No, it doesn't.

Killian has this look on his face, like he's done something he shouldn't, and Emma quite strongly dislikes it, it makes her feel awkward and on edge. Like he's done something wrong and she's going to have to clean up the mess. "What?"

"The movers said that's all your things." He smiles. "But, uh, what do you think of fish?"

She raises an eyebrow. "They're okay, sweet things, I used to have one."

"I know," He links his arm in hers as he leads her out slowly. "I got you one, I named her Eileen, and she's a Blue Tang fish like Dory from Finding Nemo." Killian chuckles when Emma smirks, shaking her head at him. "If you put your finger in her fish tank she'll swim up and give you kisses, but don't stroke her, because oils and things. She's very sweet, I like her quite a lot, maybe we should get her a friend-"

"Killian." She stops him. "Would you like to share her?"

"Please."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack so a chapter nearly every day, hopefully I can keep this up and get to ten chapters by next Friday because I'm in Italy and I don't want to lose my mojo. :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He loves her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own OUAT, any of it's cast or characters or plots. However, I am a faithful watcher and I am very interested to see how season 7 will go. This is just a prompt thing that I found online but then as I wrote it morphed into something entirely different! I figured I would try it out and see how it goes. I hope you enjoy because you all rather seemed to like the love potion one.
> 
> Helping Hand
> 
> 3rd Person

****

Killian smiles softly as he watches Emma paint her fingers, her face determined and features hard, squinting to make sure she's got everything and that it looks as good as it possibly can.

Watching her has become his favorite past time recently, as creepy as it might sound. He loves to see what Emma Swan is like in her own home, and finds it's not alike what he already knows, but he loves seeing and learning all these new things too.

He loves watching her make her tea in the morning, loves watching her fan herself because it's summer and being six months pregnant in the heat is taking its toll on her. He loves being able to joke around with her first thing in the morning, being able to take long walks down by the docks and travel to work with her.

He loves talking about the baby and being able to sit with her after dark, watching old movies or reading her the baby books, seeing her face and listening to her comments at the new things he's telling her.

He loves _her._

She told him that their kiss meant nothing to her, so he had to believe it, he couldn't hold onto hopes that she would ever love him back, no matter how much it broke his heart.

_She had frowned as she had stepped into their kitchen on her first day living with him. "Killian, can I speak to you?" He had nodded quickly, asserting that it was okay; he would always have time for her. "Uh, I don't exactly know how to phrase this."_

" _Just come out and say it, I promise that I won't be offended."_

" _I think you might be." She had whispered, wrinkling her nose. Emma had laid her hand on her belly, stroking where the baby's foot was pressing against her. "That kiss…at the hospital on the day we found out about this one being a girl."_

_He smiled wide, obviously having been hoping to talk about it at one point; he wanted to talk to her about it more than anything. "Yes, what about it?"_

" _It can never happen again." She had stated firmly, frowning. "That kiss was just because I was relieved." She lied but didn't let him know, watching his face fall. "I was so glad that she was okay, my hormones got the best of me."_

" _B…" He had stuttered, his heart breaking and gripped his mug of tea in his hands tighter. "B-but…we kissed twice, we were happy. You kissed me and then I kissed you and you kissed back, that wasn't hormones, Swan."_

_She had nodded. "It was. I was so terrified that I l-lost another baby, and you were there and you were amazing and kept me safe and comforted me-"_

" _And I always will."_

" _No!" She had stated firmly, frowning, and blinked away her tears before he could see them. "You don't have to."_

" _I don't care, I want to, love. I would do anything for you, you know that I'm certain everybody on this earth knows that." He had stepped closer but she had stepped away as soon as he did, frowning at the look of sorrow on his face._

" _Killian, the kiss meant nothing to me!" She had yelled, a tear falling down her face. "Just accept that I made a mistake! I'm sorry. I'm s-so sorry. I can't lose you, I just can't, and she can't lose her daddy, please-"_

_He couldn't have helped it if he tried, even though he was heartbroken he couldn't bear to see her so upset, so he had pulled her close, kissing her head gently. "You will not lose me, ever. And I'd be damned if I left you and our little baby girl just because of a kiss. I will never leave you, never, I promise."_

He frowns at the memory in his head, shaking it away before Emma sees, smiling when she glances at him, watching as Mr. Smee runs up to her.

The black lab has always taken a liking to Emma, ever since Killian found him on the street as a puppy and took him in without a second thought. He's like Killian's first baby before the little baby he's now having with Emma. He's three now and still quite excitable, but around Emma, it seems he knows that he has to be careful or they'll be rather cross with him.

He's rather large for his age, but that only seems to add to his charm when his gigantic tail is wagging so much they assume it'll fall off. It only knocks over lights and mugs on the table, but he's worth the hassle.

Especially if he makes Emma smile the way she is now.

Emma is six months pregnant now and has been living with him for nearly a month since she fell and he had asked her to move in. To be honest, he's always wanted to live with her, be with her, and this isn't exactly how he would have planned it but…anything that gives him the ability to bring Emma Swan hot cocoa in bed because she's too heavily pregnant with _their_ baby is fine by him.

Most people would think he's insane for loving all the new things, the new responsibilities he has to do. But he does. He loves having to wake up ten minutes earlier to make Emma a balanced breakfast so she won't get dizzy during the day, he loves it when her voice travels down the hall asking for help.

She isn't the type of woman who asks for help often, if ever, so he loves the fact she's allowing herself to lean on him, even if it's only by a little amount. She'll call his name down the hall, making him look up from where he's preparing breakfast, and he'll obviously go to her, only to see her holding out her hands for help.

Killian has come to adore the way she scrunches her nose over the fact she has to have help to get out of bed and knows that she doesn't mind it all that much considering he practically carries her to the kitchen table, making her laugh and smile, having to wrap her arms around his neck to keep steady.

He loves how she's becoming more and more at ease with him treating her like she a queen, which to him she is, and he has no intention of stopping.

That morning was different, however. Emma hadn't called him that morning, not at the time she usually did, not at all. She was out of her room an hour later than usual, and he's fairly certain he heard her in the shower, which he's usually there to help her in and out of- being the concerned expectant father he is.

She didn't say anything to him, instead, she just left her room and went to work despite the fact she had mornings off ever since she got pregnant, ignoring his advice to eat.

He wonders what happened to make her so distant again.

* * *

Emma stares ahead of her as she's sat in the break room at work, her fingers tapping on her cocoa mug a few times, before pausing and doing it again, like a song she's trying to remember.

Gideon has been watching her for the past five minutes from where he's sat at his desk, recognizing the look on her face. She looked terrified like she had done something horribly wrong and regretted it, which makes him stand up and go to her. "Alright, Emma, stop looking like you killed a cat and tell me what the hell is wrong."

Emma's head snaps up, making her sigh, as she knows she's been caught out in her crappy feelings. "I can't tell you."

"And why can't you tell me?" Gideon crosses his arms as he sits down next to her. "You're my friend, don't friends tell each other why they feel crap."

"Because you'll laugh at me," Emma whispers slightly insecurely, looking at her hands.

"Okay, so tell Killian."

Immediately, she shakes her head, the idea of talking to Killian about whatever has made her look so horrified not sitting well with the blonde. "No, I could never tell him! It would ruin everything and then he'd hate me and he'd never spoken to me again, I'd be too embarrassed to even try to speak to him and then I'll be all alone." Her voice cracks at the end of her mini rant and Gideon eyes her for a moment.

"What? What on earth could you have done?" Gideon asks with concern slowly creeping its way into his voice. Before she'd spoken, he'd been very joking and casual, but now he's worried and quite anxious. "And calm down, it's not good for the baby to be stressing out about something that's probably nothing."

"I moved in with Killian." She admits, making his eyes widen. "After I…wow there is so much you don't know."

"So tell me." Gideon still looks rather shocked. "After you what? Did you guys get together finally? When? Ruby and I have a bet, I said this month, and she said when the baby is born."

She glares at him for a moment, ignoring him before continuing. "After I fell and hit my bump so he had to rush to mine a week and a bit ago." She explains, Gideon already knew she fell and had been in the hospital because Killian had asked him to cover for him whilst Killian stayed with Emma, so that wasn't shocking. "We had an ultrasound on the baby, and when we found out we were having a girl, we kissed."

"YOU KISSED?" He yells, making her shush him, crossing her arms until he calms and shuts up. "Sorry, please continue, you have my undivided attention."

"We kissed," Emma says again, and after a long moment, she sighed. "Twice."

Gideon purses his lips, staring at her intently, obviously struggling to keep his voice calm as he excused himself, walking away. She waits, counting to ten before she hears him yell from the balcony, and then he comes back, sitting as he was before looking as calm as ever.

"Then Killian asked me to move in, he said he wanted to be there for me and the baby more, which I understand, so I said yes. Then…when I moved in I told him that the kiss meant nothing to me, that it was just hormones and the relief that our baby was okay."

He thinks, nodding slowly. "I'm struggling not to yell why at you because I sense there is more coming, so please continue."

She bites her lip, coughing once before looking up at him, her nails tapping on her coffee. "I, uh, I've been learning to lean on him more, accept more help from him, and he loves that. But then…I, uh, I sort of had…"

"Had?"

"A…dream." She mumbles, willing for him to understand. "One that meant I can't face him considering what I did when I woke up." She bites her lip harder.

"A dream?" Gideon repeats, fairly certain he knows exactly what Emma is referring to but wants to hear her voice it, just for his own fun of course, why else? "What about?"

"Killian." She coughs awkwardly. "About Killian and I…doing things."

"Doing what, Emma, just spit it out!" Gideon sighs, exasperated already.

"Oh for the love of-" She stops herself, glaring. "Killian was fucking me on his office desk!" She exclaims. "And the couch and the floor." She admits, seeming to consider something. "And the window sill…and at home in our bed."

"You share a bed?" He asks, wanting to drag it out.

"On both beds." She bites her lip, sighing, and looks away, frowning. "And then I woke up before dream me could finish, so…real me did."

"Oh." His eyes widen more, pursing his lips to hide his smirk. "So you had a wet dream about the father of your child, woke up horny and got yourself off?" He asks casually, seeing how she blushes further. "There's more isn't there?"

She nods, embarrassment only getting worse. "Yes, I did it while imagining it was him." He shrugs, having expected that. "While wearing his old sweatshirt."

"Why do I have a feeling that it's more the sweatshirt that has you embarrassed?" He tilts his head before thinking. "Wait, were you still pregnant in your dream? Oh! Or had you had the baby already and were attempting another? Were you married? Was he good?"

Emma rolls her eyes, going to stand as Gideon wasn't helping at all, but he stops her, sitting her back down gently, her hand resting on her bump gently to stroke where the baby is now kicking her. "We were married, the baby was born, shared a bed and everything, but for some reason, we did it on my old bed too, and yes we were trying for another." She groans, nodding. "He was fantastic okay? The perfect guy, sex, anything!"

"Well, at least he was good." Gideon muses. "It'd be worse if you got yourself off to bad sex- not the point." He cuts himself off. "Plus, at least you were married and had the baby already in the dream, it'd be worse if it was just a one night stand or something."

"How?"

"Well, in the dream, did he say I love you or did it seem like he did?"

Emma nods slowly, biting her lip, and he knows not to joke now her walls are slowly coming down, even at the thought of Killian she smiles softly. "He told me he loved me a lot." She whispers.

"That's nice, anything else?"

"He told me that I was the best thing that had ever happened to him, that he'd never leave. He told me he loved me almost every second, and the first time was rough but then all the other times were slow." She blinks back her tears, ignoring that part of her that wanted to sob.

Gideon notices, but keeps silent, knowing that this was something she needed to get off her chest, but couldn't help want to tell Killian, just so he could prove to Emma that it was true because everyone knows that Killian loves her.

"It wasn't just sex or fucking, it was making love, and I-it felt so much better than anything I've ever done because he loved me, and I loved him and it was perfect and we had everything, but then I woke up and it's all g-gone." She sobs softly and quickly accepts the embrace Gideon offers her, trying not to cry.

"Emma…I…"

Emma just sobs softly, wiping at her eyes. "I want him to love me."

 _He does._ His mind screams, but his mouth remains shut, rubbing her back gently, biting his lip. "Sh, it's okay." He whispers and after a few minutes, she goes to excuse herself in the bathroom, making him sigh, pulling out his phone to make sure Killian at least knew Emma was at work but raises an eyebrow when his phone was recording a video and had been for ten minutes. "Oh."

He plays the first few seconds of it, hearing himself walking and asking Emma what was wrong, but she comes back so he puts his phone down, vowing to figure out what to do about it later.

Crap.

* * *

Emma sighs as she presses the keys of her laptop, has been hiding away from Killian for most of the day, and stands to go get some more cocoa as she's finished hers.

She makes her way to the break room, giving David a small wave from where he's sat at the table she was at early in the day, before going about making her drink. She sways on her feet a little, frowning at the dizzy feeling she had, and holds onto the counter until she's steady.

David comes up behind her, putting his mug in the sink, and notices her swaying a little. "Emma, are you okay?" He asks, raising an eyebrow as she nods.

"I'm fine, I probably stood up too fast." She tries to shrug it off, taking her mug, but as soon as she starts to walk away she sways a little more, dropping her mug as she falls back.

Luckily David caught her, immediately helping her sit down on where he had been sat, staring at her like he was examining her. "Emma, are you okay?" He asks, her head lolling back a little and she blinks quickly in confusion.

"I…I'm fine." She mumbles, her eyes large and unfocused, making him frown. "I have a headache." She whispers, looking around, wincing at the light, and David hears her stomach grumble.

"Emma, have you eaten at all today?" He asks, hearing her stomach again, and she shakes her head, looking down.

"Killian makes me breakfast every morning but I ran out of the house without it." She says, sounding ashamed, and David can't say he's impressed. "I just forgot, I left at ten am, what time is it now?" She asks.

"Emma, it's three pm, you haven't eaten at all? You're pregnant; you're supposed to be eating at least four meals a day, seriously! Mary Margaret did!"

She blinks back tears, sniffling, and he drops the speech he'd been prepared to give her, just grabbing some food from the fridge in the break room and some water for her, passing them to her.

"Eat. Now."

* * *

Emma doesn't come back until past six o'clock, an hour later than usual, and is accompanied by David, who helps her sit on the couch. "Look after her." David had told Killian, who looked as confused as ever, seeing how pale and scared Emma looked.

Killian goes to kneel by her, obviously worried and panicked, so David takes it as his cue to leave, closing the door quietly behind him. "Swan, what happened?"

She's staring at her feet, looking miserable and upset, like the world was hanging on her shoulders, sniffling, which makes Killian realize she's been crying, so he quickly sits on the couch next to her. "Emma, what's going on, I'm worried now." He whispers, taking her hand.

"I'm sorry." She whispers, her head slowly lifting to look at him, showing regret and obvious horror at herself in her eyes. "It's my fault. I-I ran out of here and I didn't eat, then I was working all day and I forgot."

He frowns, staring at her for a moment, obviously trying to decide how to react, and purses his lips. "Oh." He whispers, furrowing his eyebrows, before wrapping an arm around her. "It's okay."

"No!" She pulls away. "No, it's not okay! I could have fainted and hit my bump again like before! I'm so stupid! How could I ever think I could have a baby?" She cries, burying her face in her hands. "This baby deserves so much better than me! I'm going to be an awful mother!"

"Hey!" He starts, sounding angry to even his own ears, and her head snaps up to look at him. "Don't you ever say that about yourself! You are a wonderful woman and are going to be an even more fantastic mother!"

"Yeah right! Most mothers don't put their babies in danger like I am. What's next? When the babies born I'll push her pram down the stairs or smoke in her face-"

"Emma," He takes her hand a little roughly, getting her to look in his eyes. "You love our baby, that is obvious."

She sniffles, nodding. "I love her more than anything on this earth, you know that." She whispers.

He moves their hands to her bump gently, smiling softly when they can feel their baby kicking hard against their hands. "And she loves her mom too. Feel how happy she is by just mama having your hand there."

Emma looks down at her bump, thinking for a moment. "But…"

"But nothing." He whispers. "You love our baby so much, she loves you, and we're going to give her the best life imaginable. So you don't need to worry about being a bad mother because the baby and I are both certain that you shall be a wonderful one."

Emma smiles at him, stroking her bump slowly, moving his hand with hers. "Promise?"

"I promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been too long since I last updated. Sorry, but I was on holiday and then prom and then yesterday I was meant to see Adele but she canceled and so I was depressed for like the entire day. Oh well...


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I am not staring, it hasn't been all day and I am not creepy…" He glances at David to see him raise an eyebrow. "You've only been here for two hours you don't know how look I've been looking." He points out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own OUAT, any of it's cast or characters or plots. However, I am a faithful watcher and I am very interested to see how season 7 will go. This is just a prompt thing that I found online but then as I wrote it morphed into something entirely different! I figured I would try it out and see how it goes. I hope you enjoy because you all rather seemed to like the love potion one. Two chapters in a row?! YAY!
> 
> Helping Hand
> 
> 3rd Person

Killian sips at his coffee in it's mug, glancing up from the dark colored liquid every so often to stare at Emma, smiling as she throws popcorn at their TV. Mary Margaret and David had come to visit them for the weekend, mainly for David to check on Emma after she nearly fainted a month ago, and they were watching the soccer game.

Emma's team were apparently losing by the way she boos at the TV, throwing food it Killian knows he'll be the one to clean up. "Come on! Pass it you idiot!" She yells as David stands up, walking past her towards where Killian is watching them from the kitchen.

David glances at him as he walks in, pressing the button on the kettle, listening out for a moment to hear Emma yell: "My unborn baby can kick better than this assholes!"

Killian chuckles softly, before raising an eyebrow when David shuts the door to the kitchen, blocking his view. "Alright, Mr. Staring. You've been looking at Emma all day. Spill it. Why are you being so creepy?"

"I am not staring, it hasn't been all day and I am not creepy…" He glances at David to see him raise an eyebrow. "You've only been here for two hours you don't know how look I've been looking." He points out.

"Okay, you've been staring for the past two hours, that better?" Killian nods. "Well that's still creepy, very actually. And you need to cut it out because every time I glance over at you I think you're staring at me, which isn't something I enjoy thinking. I can't imagine how crept out Emma would be if she knew."

"Emma will never know, she won't look away from the game even if there was a bomb by the house, I know that. So soccer games are the only time I can stare-"

"You just admitted you wait for games to stare at her."

"I'm well aware."

David sighs, changing the subject quickly. "Listen, stare all you want, just use it under the pretense of the baby, I don't care. Just don't hurt her. I know that you're head over heels in love with Emma, and I know you'd never intentionally hurt her, but be careful."

"I know. Why do you think I stare in secret? I can't admit this to Emma; I can barely admit it to you. But you're right, I am in love with Emma, more than I thought was possible." He sighs.

"She feels the same way-"

"Don't." Killian stops him. "Emma doesn't love me, she won't ever love me, okay?"

"No, not okay. You even told me that you kissed, which must have meant that she has feelings for you, Killian. Emma doesn't just kiss anyone, trust me, we all know that. You know her better than anyone, even her, so it must have meant that she has feelings for you."

"She just felt that way because she was hormonal, she told me the kiss didn't mean anything to her, that it was nothing. And I've accepted that, I was stupid for thinking I could ever be enough, and to even think that I could have a shot with her. I've never been more idiotic."

David frowns, listening to him for a moment, trying to think of what to say to make it better, to change his mind. But Killian made a point, if Emma said it was nothing, there was nothing they could do to change her mind, especially not if she was battling her feelings with Killian.

Emma, if she has feelings for Killian, would be terrified. Not to mention the pregnancy hormones that probably aren't helping her, especially not if she regrets their kiss, but usually Killian would be the one to help her see clearly. He always has been. However, her feelings are about Killian, and therefore she doesn't know whom to turn to about it.

He can understand feeling fragile about it.

Especially Emma.

* * *

Emma sighs as she puts down the baby book, laying it on her large baby bump carefully, seeing the baby kicking it every so often so it raises, like the baby is disturbed to have it there. "Do you want me to move it?" She asks, and a little kick tells her yes so she places the book by her side.

She's rewarded with another little kick against her hand that was rested on her bump and smiles wide, stroking the curve gently. "That's better." She whispers, and presses a kiss to her finger before pressing it where the baby's foot is protruding.

Killian comes from upstairs as she's whispering sweetly to the baby, and smirks at the baby name book next to her. "Trying to sneakily think of names behind old dads back huh?"

She laughs softly as he grabs the book and sits next to her, glancing at the names, and obviously considering it before chuckling. "Why wouldn't you want to call out child Petunia?"

She smiles at the joke, punching his arm gently. "It's not a name I like, I hate it, and it's not suitable for our baby. Now, something better, I've tried but my eyes are tired."

He hums and flicks a few pages, pursing his lips. "Florence?"

"Like the band? Will we have another baby called the Machine?"

He laughs softly and accepts her point, laying his hand on her bump gently, humming in consideration. "Martha?"

She wrinkles her nose. "No, I have a friend Martha, she's nice but she'd so brag if we had a baby named after her. Next!"

"Amy."

"Too plain." She scowls. "There are so many Amy's in this world, like did their parents just think they couldn't be bothered to write them having long names so Amy was their choice. Stupid."

"That's a bit rude to the name Amy in all fairness, love."

"Okay…I knew a girl called Amy who lifted up my skirt and pulled down my underwear to show everyone my vagina in high school. Then she got her boyfriend to pretend to be nice to me when really he just wanted to take my virginity and call me the school slut. How does that sound?"

Killian pales a little, having never known that happened. "Swan…I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." She mutters, looking away. "I just don't want our baby tainted with that name."

He nods quickly, understanding it's not something she wants to talk about and looks back at the book. "Leona?"

"What's her middle name going to be, Lewis? No!" She frowns, and she seems rather sour after telling that story. "Next?"

"Clara." He says softly, biting his lip, as he watches her, wanting nothing more than to take her into his arms as she shakes her head meekly.

It's not secret that Emma was bullied. He knows she was. He knows that the children in her schools picked on her because she used to be a teachers pet, desperately searching for some kind of parental figure in her life but the teachers could never be that, for her glasses and the fact she was developed earlier than the other students.

But he didn't know the extent of her bullying. She always shied away from it, not wanting to seem weak, but he saw it more as strength. She managed to rise above all of them, and now she had a better life than all of them put together.

Emma keeps it a secret mostly, keeping it for herself and her memories, not wanting to relive it, not wanting to relive how awful people were to her and how they made her feel so small.

"Swan, do you want to continue this later?" He asks softly, biting his lip when she nods quickly, her eyes misting over. "Can I hug you?" He whispers.

She glances up at him and that's what does it. She looks so upset, so scared and desperate for someone to just tell her that it's all okay that he has to pull her straight into his arms, not caring that she's a little heavier than usual as she's on his lap.

Emma's arms wrap around his neck as she buries her face into his collarbone, crying as soon as he can't see her face, and her small cries quickly turn into full-blown sobs, having been holding back her upset for so many years.

"Sh, sh, it's okay, Swan. I promise, it's okay." He whispers, his hand slowly stroking her back his other hand stroking her now slightly damp from tears hair that had been in her face. "It's okay."

"I wish it hadn't happened." She sobs out softly. "I was always the girl they could do anything to." She cries out, pulling him as close as she can with her bump in the way, one of her hands making it's way to her belly.

"I know, I know, I wish it hadn't either. I wish you'd had the best childhood, Swan. I wish I had been there." He whispers into her hair, hearing her sniffling, and vows that if he ever finds the people who hurt her he'll kill them slowly. "But hey, we're going to give our baby girl all of the things we didn't have."

She sniffles, shaking her head. "You will." She whispers into his neck, biting her lip. "I have nothing to offer her, not really." She states simply. "You're the millionaire here, not me, Killian. I'm just some designer, I can't give her everything she wants."

 _I can't give her a family._ She thinks, biting her lip harder.

"Yes you can, Swan." He whispers. "You can give her so much. Do you really think our baby will care how much money we have? No, she won't. She'll care about whether or not mama will give her a cuddle, feed her, and keep her safe and warm. She'll care whether her daddy will read her stories and she'll care that we're always happy. Not about anything else."

She smiles softly, looking up at him. "You really think so?"

"I know so." He whispers, smiling back, and kisses her tear-stained cheek. "Now, she will care about having a name, so shall we go back to looking?"

She nods quickly, staying in his lap as he picks up the book, letting them both look, and he's struck with the feeling of contentment he hasn't' had in so many years, of feeling like he has his family. And he does, because Emma and their baby are his family.

They're his everything.

* * *

Killian is half way through a meeting when Emma calls him, and he always picks up any calls from her in case of an emergency, so he excuses himself to the side for a moment. "Yes, Swan?"

"I'm going through the baby name book and I have the most perfect name." She states smugly. "I'm coming into your office now, and don't worry about me walking for so long, I called a cab whose lovely driver helped me in, and now your assistant is helping me walk, just for your information-"

"I'm in a meeting." He whispers, seeing her through the glass windows, and she waves happily.

"Who cares? You were telling me this morning that you're all friends." She scoffs, opening the door to his office to face the predominantly male company in his office. "Hi, I know you don't know me, but I'm having his baby and I really need to think of a name like right now before I freak out."

She gathers a couple of waves which she reciprocates, and someone offers her their chair, so she slumps down, hanging up the phone on him just as his assistant comes in with some water. "Thank you." Emma says sweetly, and recognizes most of the men.

"Hi August, Leroy, aw even Gold is here, hi!" She smiles wide before turning to Killian on her chair. "Killian. I have the book here, I've been making a list of names but then I forgot the list, sorry, baby brain. But I have the book."

Killian puts his phone in his pocket, still quite confused about what's happening, and raises an eyebrow. "Swan, we couldn't discuss this at home?"

Emma, who knows Killian will let her do anything so long as she's pregnant, smiles before shaking her head. "Nope! We couldn't do this at home. Our baby does not have a name, Killian Jones, and she needs one. Now I will happily be the only female in this room for as long as possible, which by the way is really sexist and you should employ more females guys, until our baby has a name!"

Someone coughs to hide a chuckle, and she twirls in her chair to face the table, letting Killian sit next to her, accepting his fate. "Now, whatever you were discussing is irrelevant, men. I don't care what it was, but compared to the name of baby Swan Jones, it's nothing."

"It was a multi-million dollar deal, Swan."

She purses her lips, looking a little sheepish now. "Oops. I really should have asked before I came in. But oh well, I've disrupted it anyway, and these men look bored! So, baby names. You," She points at some random man. "Give me a baby name!"

The man seems confused, having to think. "Lily?"

"No!" She states, grabbing some paper from the table and stealing Killian's pen from his pocket, writing it in the no column. "Next?"

"Doris?" One man suggests.

Emma balks. "No! How old is she, ninety?"

Killian sighs, but accepts the fact that his formidable Swan won't rest until their baby daughter has a name she likes, that they both like, and can't find it in himself to be mad at her.

God he loves Emma Swan.

* * *

After a few long hours, hours that ended up with most of the men looking at their phones on baby name websites, they have a list that Emma is more then comfortable to go home with.

She had turned down quite a few names but had written down Ruth at one point, which he had crossed out as soon as it had been written, wrinkling his nose.

In the end on their list they had three columns: Yes, no and maybe. The no column seemed to be the most full, in fact at one point they had a page of no names and only one that was a yes so they threw that paper away. So they were left with on their page, with Emma's lovely handwriting that was slightly messier than usual.

 **Yes:** Mary, Francesca, Leia, Meredith, Ruth, Josephine, Odette, Valentina, Bernadette, Charlotte, Eva, Lia, and Alexandria.

 **Maybe:** Elizabeth, Angelina, Victoria, Arabella, Felicity, Evangeline, Annabelle, Gwendolyn, Beatrice, Faye, and Vera.

 **No:** Kimberly, Rosalina, Savannah, Magdalena, Opal, Elsie, Clara, Willa, Amelia, Serena, Scarlett, Dorothy, Agnes, Doris, Seraphina, and Megan.

Emma didn't take too kindly to any plant names; refusing to write them down if anyone said them, or countries. She didn't want their baby to be named after anything, she hated that idea, and to be honest he did too.

They both wanted someone sweet, yet also unusual, something no one else would have, and so they chose very different names, strange ones and slightly older names.

Yet Killian knew which name he wanted more than anything, he just worried that his Swan might not like it as much.

"Emma?" He starts, getting her attention that night when they're watching a movie he's barely paying attention to.

She's lying in between his legs since he had been massaging her back to stop the pain, yet neither of them had bothered to move since he'd finished, and both of his hands were resting on her ever-growing bump. "Yeah?" She whispers, her eyes still trained on their TV but he knows she's more interested in him.

"I know what I want the baby to be called." He whispers, biting his lip nervously, obviously anxious about the name he wants. To be honest he would have never thought of it, but when he had seen it in the baby name book he had known he wanted their baby to be called that.

"Which is?" She asks, laying her hand over his. "Because I think I know too…and I think we want the same." She strokes his hand gently with her thumb, urging him to tell her.

"Valentina." He whispers softly, like he's unsure and doesn't want to upset her in case their names our different, but she turns to him with a brilliant, teary, smile, and he knows she was thinking the same.

"I want that too." She grins and wraps her arms around his neck gently to pull him in for a hug. "Valentina it is."

He smiles back, kissing her temple gently, his hand still rested on her bump, before chuckling. "What about a middle name?"

"Shut up."

* * *

In the end, they decide on a baby name after many punches to the arm for stupid names he suggests. And in the end, they both loved their baby's name that they picked out together.

Valentina Mary Swan-Jones.

* * *

Emma smiles as she sits down at her dining table with a plate of cookies just for her in hand. Killian and her had done some baking the day before and it had mostly ended with flour all over both of them but she did get her cookies as requested from him.

And now she planned on eating them all before Killian came home and stole even one. She swore she'd take his other hand if he so much as inhaled their scent when she was nearby.

In all fairness they taste as good as they smell, she's already eaten three and she's making her way on the other load on her plate, intending on enjoying every single one of them.

Her happiness of enjoying her cookies in peace is spoiled when she has to stand up to open the door when someone knocks, and growls as she sees Gideon with a flower in hand, making her raise an eyebrow. "What the hell are you doing here?" She asks.

He smirks and passes her the flower. "Here is an orchid. It's not from me, it's from your lover." He shrugs and walks into her home, heading straight for her cookies.

"I haven't got a lover." She looks at the note attached.

_Swan, here's an orchid for you and Valentina to care for if you're bored at home when I'm not there. – Killian_

She smiles to herself and places the orchid on a window sill gently before going back to her cookies where Gideon is happily munching on one, which she hits him for before sitting down. "Why are you still here eating my food?"

"I don't want to go back to work, duh. Killian is paying me extra to keep you company for a few minutes, plus I have a mountain of files to do and I'm hoping fair Ariel will do it. Besides, I'm here with…news."

"Which is?" She asks curiously, taking a bite of a cookie. "It better be good."

Gideon shakes his head, pulling out his phone, and slowly slides it to her where she can see a video is there, looking as if it had been taken from inside his pocket by accident, and seeing how long it is she knows it's by accident. Gideon never takes videos longer than ten seconds to save storage because that's what she does too.

She presses play and listens for a few moments, hearing nothing and skips to near the end, dropping her cookie when she hears her voice.

_"Emma…I…" Gideon says in the video but is cut off by her sobbing softly._

_"I want him to love me."_

She presses the home button on his phone to exit the video, staring at it for a moment, feeling both anger and shame and humiliation from hearing it. "You videoed me saying that?"

"I didn't mean too!" He says quickly. "After you went to clean your face up, I checked my phone for any messages to see I had videoed it all, but I promise I hadn't meant to. I just wanted you to know now because it's been on my phone for weeks and weeks and I couldn't get the balls to tell you."

She clicks her tongue, frowning. "Why didn't you just delete it?"

"Because I was going to show it to Killian." He admits, making her reach for the phone again but he takes it back. "But I wanted you to know that I was going to do that, I've been debating it again and again in my head, Emma. But maybe if he heard it, he'd know-"

"No! Gideon, you can't show him that freaking video! I want you to delete it!"

"But maybe if he heard-"

"No! Please, please, don't show him that. If he doesn't love me then he doesn't love me okay? I get it that he doesn't, please don't show him that video."

Gideon stares at her for a moment like he's deciding something. "Emma, I'll delete this video if you tell me how you feel about Killian." He states, making it a deal.

Her eyebrows furrow and she looks away, her hands going to stroke her bump. "You know how I feel."

"I need you to say it, to understand…please?"

She bites her lip, glancing up at him for a moment, and blinks back her tears of fear about admitting her feelings to someone. "I love Killian." She whispers, swallowing the rest of her tears, hating that she admitted it.

He nods slowly, biting his lip. "You need to tell him, I know you'll probably say no, but he deserves to know-"

"I know." Emma states simply. "I'm going to tell him. I just need to think of the right time, the right place…I'll do it soon."

"You don't need to right time or place, it just will be right when you tell him, Emma."

"I know it will, but the thought of saying it in the romantic sense to him and facing rejection is too much." She whispers, stroking her bump. "But I will tell him, I promise. And…" She pauses. "If you delete that video I'll tell him before Valentina is born."

"Do you promise?"

She nods quickly, watching him delete it and then to prove it to her he goes into his recently deleted and lets her delete it herself.

"I'll tell him soon."

* * *

At two am the next morning, Emma sighs, as she's still awake, thinking to herself. She knows she needs to admit that she loves Killian in a non-platonic, actually romantic way. She can't wimp out now, not with Gideon knowing and vowing to tell Killian himself.

But she's scared.

She sounds so childish, so infantile and meek that she hates herself for it. She hates that she's so scared of love she'd rather live without it then have it and be happy. But she has Valentina, and that's all that matters to her.

Apart from the fact she wants to be a family.

Emma wants to give Valentina the family her and Killian never had and never dreamed they could have. With parents who love one another and love her more than anything, with the big house and the white picket fence, even a dog if it made her happy.

She imagines her and Killian living happily just outside of the city where Valentina can have the life they want her to have without becoming snobby and selfish. She imagines days in the sun spent making sure their daughter has on enough sun cream, taking her out for ice cream and having birthday parties with their friends and hers that outshine everyone else's.

She imagines one day walking down the aisle to him, when Valentina is slightly older so she can toddle down the aisle, her little ringlet curls bouncing up and down as she walks before Emma, smiling wide because she's her mommy's best bridesmaid and she gets to wear a pretty dress. She even imagines one day having more children with him, giving Valentina brothers and sisters to play with, to share the love they have for one another and their daughter.

However, that's all it is. Her imagination.

And it kills her to think it might never come true, they might never have that because she's too afraid and he might not love her back.

Emma sighs to herself, sitting up slowly, rolling around quite a lot just to sit up, before planting her feet delicately on the wooden floor that's freezing on her feet. But she barely notices as she's a woman on a mission.

She makes her way out of her bedroom to the bedroom just two doors away, since the one next to her is a bathroom that's become very handy since the baby loves sitting on her bladder.

Hesitating for a moment outside the door, Emma knocks quietly twice before pushing the door open, her free hand still on her large bump, which is protruding out and straining her nightgown against her breasts and middle. But she forgets about how revealed she feels because she knows if she leaves she won't have the courage to go back.

Killian is lying on his side hugging a pillow, his hair tussled like it always is when he sleeps, something she knows from seeing him every morning and the times he slept in her guest room at her old place.

Unable to help her small smile from breaking through, Emma slowly makes her way to the side of his bed where he's facing her, a small smile graced on his face, making him look younger, more relaxed than usual in his sleep. But she isn't here to admire him, she just needs to sleep, and she knows only Killian can help her, just like usual.

She needs _him._

Poking him gently, she notices he stirs a little, being the light sleeper he is from his years in the Navy. She slowly eases herself to sit on the edge of his bed, and pulls the covers up. "Killian." She whispers, her finger reaching out to stroke his nose, which she knows he's ticklish for, and he stirs until he's half awake, his eyes fluttering open. "Wake up."

"Swan?" He mumbles, his voice sounding gruff and a little croaky from sleep, which sends a rush of something to her core, but she ignores it in favor of poking him again. "Is everything okay? Is the baby okay?"

She nods. "Yeah, she's okay," Emma whispers softly. "But we can't sleep." She admits and starts to lie down, smiling softly when she feels his hand on her back stabling her. "Can we stay here tonight?"

He nods slowly, offering her a smile that could charm an army, and his hand slowly reaches out to rest on her bump, yawning. "Aren't you cold?" He asks a little nervously.

"Why?"

"Because your nightdress is rather…thin." He whispers, avoiding looking up from her bump and she glances down to see her breasts are barely covered and her nightdress has lumps where her nipples are poking up through the cold.

"I don't care." She admits pulling it up a tiny bit so it won't slip off and just moves closer.

Killian seems to take the hint not to question her and just wraps an arm around her, pulling her close gently, smiling when he feels Valentina kicking his side. "She's awake." He whispers, his hand stroking her bump and the baby slowly stops, making Emma smile as Killian is the only one who can ever get her to calm.

Emma nods, and curls into his body, smiling as she molds around him perfectly. "That's because she knows when she's near daddy," Emma whispers, her hand moving down to join his, smiling. "She'll sleep easy now she has you."

"And will you?" He whispers.

"I'll sleep perfectly, you know that, Jones." She lays a hand on his chest, just over his heart gently, although slightly cautiously. "Killian…can…can I sleep in here for now?" She asks gently, like she's scared of saying the words out loud. "Until Valentina comes?"

Killian strokes her hair gently. "Stay as long as you want, Swan." He whispers, knowing he never wants her to leave.

"I will." She whispers back. "Goodnight, Killian."

"Night, Swan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack so two chapters in a row proves that I have too much time on my hands huh? :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killian braces himself before he even steps foot in the door, knowing that with Emma's increasingly hard to handle hormones he'll be yelled at.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own OUAT, any of it's cast or characters or plots. However, I am a faithful watcher and I am very interested to see how season 7 will go. This is just a prompt thing that I found online but then as I wrote it morphed into something entirely different! Oh well…I think you'll like this chapter. And oh no my Grammarly is dying so excuse me if I've done a stupid mistake I will surely notice later even though I have proofread twenty times! :) I need that freaking app back! Also, let me know if I should write an add on to this story with a group of one-shots of pregnant Emma or even their friendship before or little Valentina. I was planning on writing a wedding one. 
> 
> Helping Hand
> 
> 3rd Person

Killian braces himself before he even steps foot in the door, knowing that with Emma's increasingly hard to handle hormones he'll be yelled at.

Emma's had more of a struggle then usual with her mood swings, pains, cravings and sometimes they all merge together, which is never good news. He's been yelled at more than once because he apparently chews too loud, he's too quiet when he sleeps, he didn't give her a foot massage, and apparently he got the wrong mouthwash.

But he accepts it all, because he knows that his Emma isn't usually like that. She's usually relatively calm and knows what she wants and doesn't kick up a fuss because she doesn't want to upset anyone. However, pregnant Emma is… mean.

Not horrible mean.

But over reactive, scary, sort of rude, really terrifying yet adorable mean. So she's…a very sweet little combination of scary in one Emma shaped baby oven. He hates that analogy and Emma would kill him for it, but she calls herself an oven for their 'bun' so he doesn't think it's that bad.

Although he's pretty sure that if he called her his oven to her face she'd both slap him and kill him twice over because she'd think he's calling her fat.

The worst part is the fact he ends up getting kicked a lot in his sleep, sometimes because he's too loud or too quiet or moves too much or 'breathes too loud' or once she was bored so they had late night ice cream at four am.

Ever since that first night where Emma had come into his bed because she couldn't sleep she always came. At first they had been a little hesitant, but in the end they had found it became a routine and much easier for him to help her get up, so they just continued.

It was killing him.

He's not sure Emma knows how much he wishes she were in his bed for a different reason, although he'd never tell her and never act on it. He's always a gentleman after all.

Emma didn't seem too bothered by how close they were, because they really were close in his bed. Although large, Emma had a habit of cuddling right into him and intertwining her legs with his so it's impossible to not touch. She also had a habit of wearing the most see through, tightest, and shortest nightdresses he's ever seen.

That morning she had gotten out of bed with his help, her nightdress having ridden up a little to show off more of her thighs, and he'd had to take a cold shower just to remain gentlemanly. It didn't help that when he came out and got dressed she was in another dress that was rather low cut, since no jeans fit around her bump and she found leggings showed off her non-existent rolls.

The only thing that helped him to survive that morning was the fact she'd yelled at him to go get her chocolate ice cream for breakfast, breaking down since apparently there was nothing edible in their home despite the fact they went shopping the night before and she'd picked out most of the food.

So, as he does most days, he headed to the store and grabbed the chocolate ice cream he saw first, buying it before heading home.

However, as he walks in the door he knows he's in for it. Seeing as, Emma never specified what type of ice cream she wanted and therefore he forgot. She asked for a certain brand usually and somehow his sleep needing brain decided that he wouldn't get that brand but an entirely different.

Oh dear god he might as well just plan his funeral now.

Emma spots him with the bag and smiles wide, heading to the kitchen to grab a spoon, and waits eagerly for him to get it out of the bag, waiting until he's standing in front of her to quirk an eyebrow as if to say 'hurry up' as she usually does.

"Okay, before I get it out, I want Ascent by Brian Eno to be played at my funeral when you kill me, alright?" She rolls her eyes but nods quickly, grabbing the bag from him and looking inside it.

"What the hell is this?" She demands, slamming the ice cream tub on the kitchen counter, not looking too happy. "I asked for my usual brand, this looks like sewage! Why would you bring me sewage, Jones?"

"It's nice, Swan, we've had it before, just try it?" He offers, but she still looks mad. "I'm sorry, I just grabbed the first one."

"Well, look next time! It doesn't kill you to look does it? I'm making a little person inside me every day and all I ask is for some fucking ice cream and you bring me shit I don't even want and now I'm upset over it and stressed and she's kicking because I'm stressed, do you see?" She blinks back her tears.

"Emma, Emma, love, calm down, please." He takes her hands gently. "Why don't we just try this ice cream and if you hate it I promise I will go out and get you three tubs of the other one, okay?"

She sniffles, looking at their hands, obviously sensing she was over reacting, and nods quickly. "I'll try it, but only because I've been such a bitch to you and now I feel awful."

He chuckles softly, taking her spoon gently and pulling the lid off the ice cream before gathering some on the spoon and holding it up to her mouth, smiling encouragingly at her until she takes a bite.

She blushes and grabs the spoon, getting some more ice cream and eating it, smiling with a hum at how good it tastes. "Mh, oh my god that ice cream is amazing!" She gushes, before glaring at him.

"So, you're not mad at me anymore?" She asks softly.

"Shut up."

* * *

Killian smiles as he leads Emma down their hallway, the blindfold around her eyes tightly and her feet moving as he gently nudges her. "Just a few more steps." He chuckles, watching her hands as they stroke her bump.

Emma is eight months pregnant now and hardly easy to handle, but he finds it very worth it, especially in a few moments when he's about to show her what he's been working on since she moved in.

They've been decorating the nursery bit by bit, however Killian hasn't allowed her actually into the room because of the paint fumes or in case she knocks herself, and she doesn't mind it. She likes just deciding and knowing it'll happen, just because Killian is doing it, and he'll agree with most of her choices.

So now, as he leads her towards what will be their daughters nursery when she's born in a little under two months time, she already knows she's going to love whatever she sees.

Killian pushes the door open to the room gently; smiling as he slowly helps her inside, and pulls her blindfold off gently so he doesn't hurt her.

At the sight of the room, Emma can't help but gasp. Killian had made it into something she could never have imagined, it's far, far better than anything her mind could have cooked up.

There's a large but not too large crib in the middle of the room, made out of wood that she remembers him asking their local woodcarver to make specially for their baby girl, and Emma's eyes widen when she sees there are little ships and swans carved into the sides and legs of the crib, which she knows that Killian would have had to specify to get, like he knew exactly what he wanted.

The walls are a beautiful, not too bright, yellow color that she picked out in the store a few months ago, and the walls match the little baby blanket that is already waiting in the crib, which she knows has been stitched by Granny from the diner.

Emma picks up the blanket gently, smiling at the soft yellow wool and how it feels, her finger slowly tracing over the name _Valentina_ and smiling, since she knows that Killian has probably been waiting for Granny to finish before showing Emma the nursery, and Emma can't help but have tears in her eyes over how much thought Killian has put into the room.

He's put a chest to the right corner of the room that's out of the way and waiting to be filled with toys they'll obviously buy, unless it's already full, it probably is with how much she's been shopping.

There's a rocking chair which has a changing table next to it and a bin that slots into the table so that they don't have to worry about where to put the dirty diapers. She opens a few of the drawers to see some teething rings that will probably come in handy one day, pacifiers, extra diapers, little bits and piece of clothing, a breast pump and baby wipes.

"You've thought of everything huh?" She whispers, looking around the room. "It's absolutely gorgeous in here."

"I had hoped so." He grins, looking around to see how his hard work has pulled off. "I was thinking I could get some professional photos done when she's a few months old to put up, and to have pictures of her little feet like when they put them in paint and things, it would be quite sweet." He says softly.

She nods slowly, having barely heard anything past the word I. Singular. As in, him alone and Emma's not included, and Emma's struck with the realization that she'll probably have to move out once the baby is born, after all she's only there because she can't be walking up stairs and being too active when pregnant. But when the baby comes, she'll be thrown out, like she means nothing, because she doesn't. She's just carrying the baby and then that'll be it, she loses all of this and everything she's gotten so used to.

There will be no more breakfasts or day trips out or flowers to be looking after, no more being partners in things and no more turning up to work together, no more late night conversations, no more staying in his bed, no more being with him…

Just the thought of not being with him makes her break down.

Killian's eyes widen as she drops the baby blanket back into the crib, covering her mouth to try to contain her sobs, and he quickly rushes to her, wrapping an arm around her gently

"Swan, what did I say?" He whispers, his hand slowly stroking her hair back out of her face, wondering what it was he did or said that made her so upset like this.

"Nothing." She whispers, sniffling as he leads her to sit down on the rocking chair he had made specially for her, with swans all on the legs and arms, and a little duckling pillow so that she wouldn't get an ache if she sat there for a long time when the baby wouldn't sleep. "It's just…I remembered that when you make me leave here, I'm losing all of this and you-"

"Whoa, Swan, who said I was making you leave?" He asks, looking a little hurt, taking her hands in his. "I would never do that to you, don't you know that?" He whispers.

"But when you get married and have o-other children with another w-woman then I can't stay-"

"Emma Swan, I am not getting married and having any other children unless that woman is you." He states firmly, swallowing his fear over saying these words out loud. "I'm in love with you, I want to marry you one day and if I were so lucky, I would want more children than our little Valentina, although I would be happy with just her and you, but I know you want more and so that means I do too."

She stares at him for a moment, her hand slowly moving out of his, and he's heartbroken to know that's her sign that she doesn't feel the same, but is a little shocked when her hand cups his cheek. "You love me?" She whispers. "In a loving way? Romantically?"

"Swan, I just admitted to wanting to spend the rest of my life with you yet you question that part?" He tries to joke but the vulnerability he sees in her eyes makes him pause. "I love you more than anything except Valentina, you two are on the same amount of love."

She smiles wide, which shocks him more than he cares to admit, staring into his eyes. "I love you too." She whispers tearfully, a few leaking and he wipes them away. "I love you so much."

He grins, pulling her closer gently, his lips covering hers, not caring that their kiss is sloppy and wet from tears, hardly the most perfect kiss to anyone. But to him it is, it's the best kiss he's every received and probably will ever receive, but he bets any kiss with the love of his life would be.

They don't pull away until a few moments later where he rests his forehead against hers. "How long?"

"I only realized last month." She admits. "I suspected, I was told, but I couldn't accept it." She whispers softly, kissing him once more gently, as if to remind herself she could, she had told him, he felt the same. "You?"

"Forever, Swan. Since the day I met you."

She punches him gently but kisses him after she does. "I knew you'd be the first to realize. I'm sorry I took so long to realize myself, and I'm sorry it took me getting knocked up to realize."

His hand goes to her bump gently. "I couldn't be happier it took you getting pregnant with _my_ baby to realize."

"Good." She whispers gently, kissing him once more.

* * *

They end up spending most of the day kissing and giggling, reveling in the fact they know, they know it's for real and that this time it's for keeps. They aren't intending on going anywhere soon and they have their entire future to look forward to now.

She's sitting in between his legs, her head laid on his chest as he strokes her hair, watching some comedy show on his laptop but they're barely paying attention as they're too busy smiling and talking and sharing little kisses.

"So how did you realize you loved me?" Killian asks in a whisper in her ear, his nose pressing against her temple gently, obviously more curious than pushy and she loves that she could easily not answer and he'd just accept it.

But she's opening up, she has for him, and she now knows she wouldn't have to be closed off again. Not for him.

"I had a dream." She admits, blushing. "That we were…intimate." She whispers softly and ignores his chuckle. "A lot. In my dream we were married with our baby girl, and we were trying to have another, and I think we were successful if how many times we did it in the dream was anything to go by."

He laughs a little loudly and she nudges his ribs. "So I woke up…did something I felt super guilty about at the time…went to Gideon and told him everything, and I admitted that in my dream, you told me you loved me over and over again." She closes her eyes, sighing. "And I wanted it to be real."

Killian presses a kiss to her cheek, nuzzling it for a moment. "I love you." He whispers, moving to kiss down her jaw, whispering the words again and again like he did in her dream, and she tilts her head back gently.

After a few minutes he stops, knowing she's not ready to go any further than kisses, which he's more than alright with, plus she would hate the fact all she'd remember about their first time is the fact they had to accommodate her massive bump with their baby girl inside her, which she wasn't exactly happy about having the memory of, so they'd wait for a while. But he didn't mind, not so long as he has her, that she knows he loves her no matter what.

"Swan, when you did the thing you felt guilty about…were you wearing my grey leavers hoodie from college?" He asks curiously, and smirks at her blush when she nods shyly. "Yeah I already know about that wet dream."

She looks confused and he elaborates. "Swan, I change your sheets every morning so that they're fresh, you think I didn't notice?"

She blushes red, looking away, and he knows she's feeling guiltier by the fact he had to clean up for her rather than embarrassed over what, but she laughs softly. "Oh god, I'm sorry, but at least I dreamt about you, right?"

Killian chuckles and nods slowly. "I would have never have guessed."

She pulls him closer gently, kissing him for a moment, barely even a peck, before pulling away. "I love you, Jones." She whispers softly. "So much."

"I love you so much too."

* * *

Killian smiles as Emma steps out onto the porch in their back garden, loving the fact he can now look at her, admire her rather, and won't be accused of being 'creepy as fuck' or so once David said.

They've only been together for one day, twenty-three hours if you want to get technical, and he couldn't be happier. Especially not now that the sun has come out and Emma had decided she wanted to put their pool to good use.

_Emma had been staring out of the window for nearly an hour, looking contemplative as Killian read in the living room. "Jones, get up!" She had called, smirking softly. "We're going swimming."_

" _We are?" He had asked, closing his book gently and walked to her, and had then laid his hands gently on her hips, mainly just because he can, and he wanted to. He loved the ability to do things Emma would usually hit him in the face for, but she seemed to love every touch, every smile, every kiss, and he had no qualms about doing more._

" _Yes! We haven't used that pool in ages, it's like one hundred degrees outside and I'm bored! So we are going swimming whether you like it or not, are we understood?"_

_He had nodded slowly and earned himself a sweet kiss._

" _Thank you, now can you go get my bikini, the swimsuit hasn't fit since month four." She had pouted but he chuckled, wiggling his brows at her. "Shut up."_

" _Maybe we can be all cute on social media and write baby in whipped cream on your bump." He had joked, making her roll her eyes._

" _As if, knowing my luck I'd tan or burn around the letters and in labor all the doctors would laugh at me. Now, bikini, go."_

So now, he smirks at the sight of her in the bikini she's had for years, her bump proudly on show, not caring how she looks although he thinks she looks bloody gorgeous. She walks over to him with her sunglasses on her head, pushing her hair back the way he knows she loves, and a towel in hand. "Can you help?"

"With?" He asks softly, slowly pulling her down to sit on his lap in the chair, smiling when she cuddles up to him.

"I want to get in the pool and I don't want to fall, so help me in?"

He smiles softly and nods, standing up slowly with her, helping her to the pool before getting in and helping her walk down the stairs, holding her hips gently until she has her feet on the floor of the pool, kissing her cheek. "There."

She grins wide, placing his hand on her belly gently to feel the baby kicking wildly. "She's her fathers daughter, she likes water." Emma giggles softly, something he loves to hear her doing. Plus she's mainly done it since they found out she was pregnant, and he can't help but revel in the fact being pregnant with his child has made her so happy.

"Of course." He chuckles, and nuzzles his nose into her hair gently. "Hey, Swan, what do you say we…have some time for us before the baby comes?" He asks moving in the water a little with her, making sure she's always balanced.

"How do you mean?" Emma asks softly, leaning her head back and getting her hair wet, smiling at the feeling of the cool water on her, a vast contrast from how uncomfortable she is being heavily pregnant in hot conditions.

"Well, when the baby comes we won't have much time for ourselves, so…I'm asking if you want to have a night for us two? Just us, maybe a movie, some dancing, dinner, I might even take you out on my ship or something?"

"You're asking me on a date?" She smirks, looking up at him and moving closer gently.

"If that's what dinner, a movie and dancing is then yes, I am in fact asking you on a date, please, thank you. Sorry, I haven't done this in a while."

"Mh, well how can I say no to a movie, dancing and you're going to feed me? I can't say no. Besides, I love it when you're nervous, it's such a cute contrast from confident, sexy, want to fuck you in an alleyway and never call you back Killian, I like you being you, not that."

He blushes softly, kissing her cheek. "So?"

"Yes, Jones, I will go on a date with you, but under one condition and one condition only." She smirks, stroking his chest right where his head is gently.

"And that condition is?" He asks softly, taking her hand with a small and nervous smile on his face, obviously excited and willing to do whatever she may ask of him, like he always is, and she's struck with the feeling of just _knowing_ that he will never hurt her, he's with her forever. He's the one.

"You buy my ice cream." She whispers softly, looking in his eyes despite the fact she knows the request is slightly silly.

"I think that can be arranged, Swan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack only two chapters left, maybe only one if I can fit it all in, holy crap I'm going to miss writing! Plus, has anyone else noticed like a load of SQ fics making their way into the Captain Swan tag like no, please don't poison my zone. This is my zone, well our zone, and I don't like seeing how a load of the fics (not all) totally bash Killian like please don't. Fair enough if you like one ship more than another, but don't bash a character that Colin has spent his time and effort trying to make into something we like, be respectful cause you'd feel shitty if someone said that about a character you've tried hard on.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, the baby is late, so therefore Emma is cranky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own OUAT, any of it's cast or characters or plots. However, I am a faithful watcher and I am very interested to see how season 7 will go. This is just a prompt thing that I found online but then as I wrote it morphed into something rather different. Oops!
> 
> Helping Hand
> 
> 3rd Person

Emma smiles softly across the table, sipping on her water from her glass slowly. Over the past week, she has been nothing but miserable and whining or yelling for no reason in particular or crying, none of which she enjoys. And this is all because she's late. Well, the baby is late, so therefore Emma is cranky.

The baby has been particularly annoying that day, kicking her in her sleep the night before so she couldn't find any position that was even somewhat comfortable, and when she finally did she had to pee, which was hardly an enjoyable experience to have to twist and turn and try to get out of bed whist simultaneously not waking up Killian, not falling over and not wetting herself.

So far she's rather surprised she hasn't lost bladder control yet considering the baby makes her need to pee every five minutes, and she's certain that Killian is now nervous she'll give birth on the toilet.

To be honest she wouldn't be surprised.

She's nine months and two weeks pregnant, meaning she is far, far overdue, and they've already called the doctor to talk about inducing labor. Although the doctor doesn't seem too keen on inducing labor due to the fact she lost her first baby, and she doesn't exactly want to make any stupid mistakes and neither does Killian, so they just have to bear with it.

Well she is, he's just getting the brunt of her anger.

In spite of her being a complete bitch to him, Killian had wanted to cheer her up and so he's taken her on a date, another date. They're first was perfect, romantic, and she wishes she could have jumped him but the baby made that nearly impossible.

_She had been thirty-eight weeks pregnant, her chair barely fitting into the table, her hand flitting to her belly whenever someone looked with a smile or seemed overjoyed by the prospect of a perfect stranger having a baby. The waitress constantly had asked how she had been feeling, which she actually found rather sweet so she didn't comment like she normally would._

" _Swan, are you okay?" Killian had asked on the walk to his car after a movie and dinner, which he bought them a load of ice cream she ate most of, and still wanted more. "You seem deep in thought."_

" _That's because I am." She had said softly, squeezing the hand that she had been holding. "I'm just thinking that in two weeks time, we're going to be hopefully holding our baby."_

" _It's pretty great, huh?"_

" _Amazing, I mean…I guess I never imagined myself in this life." She had shrugged but smiled wide. "It's pretty damn perfect to think that our little girl will be with us, sleeping in the crib you had made, with these perfect toes and fingers and she'll be so beautiful because she's ours so of course, she would be absolutely gorgeous."_

" _Any child of yours is guaranteed to be beautiful, Swan."_

" _Ours." She had whispered, turning to face him and pausing in her steps. "Our child. Maybe even one day children, but that doesn't matter, how many we have doesn't matter as much as who we're having them with. Which is with each other."_

" _That's true." He had pulled her closer gently, not caring about the fact they were in the middle of the sidewalk, nuzzling her nose sweetly. "I love you."_

" _I love you too…and do you know what?"_

" _What?"_

" _I'm actually going to really miss being pregnant."_

Those are some famous last words that she now regrets saying with everything in her. Within two weeks she had been crying because the baby didn't come on the due date, so automatically it meant she had done something wrong or that the baby wasn't okay, but the baby just kicked away inside her, so she seemed fine.

Killian had taken her on their second date after, in which she was exactly forty weeks pregnant and he had taken her to his ship but didn't sail in case she went into labor. Instead, he took her there to star gaze for the night, to eat a picnic on the deck and talk until she fell asleep.

That was her favorite date they had been on so far.

It was so them. There was no fancy dinner, no music, no dancing or over confidence or nerves of how to dress, it was just them. No interruptions, just laying back and watching the stars until she fell asleep and woke up in their bed.

It was the perfect date.

They're on a date at some restaurant not too far from their home, both of them sipping water as Killian has refused to drink since she can't and he felt wrong about doing it when she couldn't, and she has to say she's rather impressed.

(Although she is certain he and David have had a beer at work or something, they must have.)

The waiter leaves them alone, which she's grateful for, and there's only one person who touches her stomach, which isn't as bad as usual.

After they've eaten, Killian had taken her down to the docks, helping her sit on a bench gently and holding her close, both content just to sit there, and Emma's mind can't help but wonder when she spots a couple with their baby walking past, obviously having just come back from an event due to their fancy clothing.

And she worries.

She's been on the Internet, which is always not good when you research something about yourself. All she had typed in was two weeks late in pregnancy, and from then on she's been scared.

"Killian?" She whispers, looking up at him instead of the couple. "I'm two weeks late, right?" He nods. "That's not normal."

"Due dates aren't always accurate, they may have gotten yours wrong, anything could have happened, Swan.

"Just hear me out." She sits up properly, sighing unhappily. "Delivering more than two weeks after the due date can have some risks, that's what everyone says, I already knew that. But then I went online and looked up why it might have the risks."

"Swan, never-"

"Yes, I know not to, but hear me out!" She sighs, looking away, crossing her arms over her chest protectively. "The mortality rate at greater than 42 weeks of pregnancy is twice that at term!" She exclaims. "Usually it's two or three deaths per one thousand babies for a normal, at term pregnancy. For an overdue one, it's four to seven deaths per one thousand…that's twice the amount!"

"But Swan-"

"It could mean breathing problems such as asthma for the baby, she could stop growing because there isn't enough room for her to, she could breath in her first bowel movement with the amniotic fluid-"

"Emma!" He takes her arms gently, stopping her effectively. "Our baby girl is perfectly fine, okay? I promise you, she's really safe and cozy and happy in there, you can feel her kicking all day."

"But what if she's kicking because she hasn't got enough room or because she's distressed."

"She's not."

"How do you know?" She demands blinking back tears gently, sniffling softly.

"Because I know that mama is doing all you can to keep her happy, and she knows that. And happy mommy equals a happy baby, you know this, besides, she is doing what most babies do at the end of pregnancy, she's preparing to come out and meet us."

"Do you promise?"

"I wouldn't lie to you, Swan, of course, I promise." He whispers, kissing her cheek. "Now, why don't we get ice cream and calm ourselves down because that will stress her out? Okay?"

She nods quickly. "I want chocolate ice cream."

"Consider it done."

* * *

She's still as miserable the next day when he goes to work. He normally doesn't but he has a big meeting he has to go to, and he promises he won't be too late, but in the end, Mary Margaret comes over just in case.

"Hey, Emma!" Mary Margaret calls loudly to her from the front door, making Emma look up from where she was watching trashy TV about people cheating on each other and family feuds and whatever else. It makes her feel a lot better about herself to see people with no teeth and their hair is a mess and they look awful, it just helps her pregnancy addled brain to remind herself she's gorgeous compared to them.

Or so Killian tells her.

But Killian would think she's pretty than Marilyn Monroe even though she doesn't see it herself, and he'd never stop telling her he thinks she's beautiful, pregnant or not.

"Hi?" Emma calls, a bit confused as to why she's there and smiles when Mary Margaret walks into the living room.

"Oh god, still pregnant then?"

Emma pouts and nods, moving over for her to sit. "Two weeks overdue, and we're going to the hospital tomorrow to see if they'll induce labor, I don't want to but we think it's best, and we called our GP who thinks the same, but oh well…I just want her out."

"I had the same thing when I was pregnant, I was a week late and I was going to be induced, but we spoke to the doctors and they told us to try a few different things in order to try to induce labor ourselves."

Emma raises an eyebrow. "Tell me more."

"Okay, eating spicy foods, exercise like yoga, red raspberry leaf tea…uh," She blushes. "Nipple stimulation and of course sex."

She coughs once. "I've tried yoga, maybe spicy foods and tea might be the next step, and we aren't…"

"You aren't having sex?"

Emma looks away, shrugging. "Well, not yet anyway, we're taking it slow for now, with everything that's going on in our lives, we don't want to rush, so we're going as slow as we can."

"Right because when I have a baby with a man I really want to slow things down." Mary Margaret says sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Sex is completely safe and normal during pregnancy, you guys know that right?"

"We know, we know, it's just…I kind of don't want my first memory of our first time to be plagued by the fact we had to add the weight of my bump and the thought our daughter will literally be there for our first time doesn't sit well with me. Like…if I was only a couple of months pregnant to five months then it would be okay because my bump wasn't that big and she wasn't fully formed, but now she's fully formed and really heavy and moving."

"I kind of get it, but it's completely normal, she would have no idea."

Emma shrugs. "Still, I kind of want it to be just Killian and me, not our baby girl right there with us. It's just me being strange, I know I'm being weird about it, but I'm pretty sure Killian feels the same."

Mary Margaret thinks before coughing once. "And since you've been dating has he been taking a shower both in the morning and at night?"

Emma considers it and nods. "Yes, but he told me it's because the office smell would make me sick, and I'm inclined to believe him, it stinks in the office right now."

"Yeah, no, he's lying to make you feel better. He's sexually pent up and…you knowing in the shower."

With a wrinkle of her nose, Emma sighs. "Killian would tell me, he knows I'd help if that were the case!"

"Or he doesn't want to bother you or take advantage because you're under a lot of pressure carrying the baby, Killian is a sweet guy, he wouldn't stress you out by making you worry about sex on top of having a baby, you know that. Do you really think he'd ask you to…help with that problem just because he's a little sexually frustrated? No, he wouldn't."

Emma sighs, looking away for a moment, obviously considering her words, thinking. "Do you really think he'd hide it just because he doesn't want me to worry?"

"I know so. And I also know that he'd probably say yes if you asked him to…help you out."

Frowning, Emma glares at her. "I wouldn't make him do that while he's pent up too, I'm not cruel."

"Emma, you know the man you're dating and having a child with right? Because it sounds like you've forgotten everything about him. Does he seem like the kind of man that would say no to helping his lady enjoy herself? Especially the lady who's giving him a baby?"

"Well no but-"

"No buts. Just ask him. And if you don't want sex, try the nipple stimulation, and if he says no, use a breast pump. When you have stimulation or sex, it releases the hormone called oxytocin, which induces labor." Emma sighs, looking away. "Emma, just-"

"I'll try the tea and spicy food first okay? Just stop!"

* * *

Emma apologizes for yelling at her after a few seconds and by the time they finished the discussion, Killian had come home and Mary Margaret left.

Under Emma's advice he made spicy food, and when it didn't work he gave her some more in the hopes it would work, even giving her chilies.

Unsuccessful in the spicy food, he tried making her the red raspberry tea but it only succeeded in making her nauseous and so he threw it away quickly.

Another failure. So they tried to do some exercise, using one of those ridiculous balls to try, but it just made her stomach tie in knots after trying to scoff down spicy food and then the horrible tea, and he didn't want to make her sit down so she wasn't sick.

An hour later and she had excused herself under the pretense of needing to get changed, saying she didn't need his help although she really did considering it took her ten minutes to take off her maternity dress and then another ten to get into her nightdress.

She had slipped into the baby's room, closing the door behind her quietly, tiptoeing over to the drawer when she'd heard Killian calling her and had quickly retreated back downstairs to him.

She'll have to try again later.

* * *

Killian's asleep behind her, his arm wrapped around her bump, but she can't sleep, too busy worrying about the baby, plus the baby is kicking her like crazy.

She sighs, getting out of bed, trying not to wake Killian and replacing her body with a pillow, slowly waddling to the baby's room next to his, biting her lip.

Looking down at her bump, Emma wrinkles her nose, stroking its curve slowly. "I promised you that I'd take care of you, keep you safe and happy, and Daddy promised that too. So I'm going to try something that might make you come and if it doesn't then I already apologize."

To her whispering, the baby kicks, and she takes that as a sign of ' _okay mom, you do you!_ ' and just smiles softly.

Closing the door quietly behind her, Emma walks over to the baby's changing table, opening a few of the drawers before she finds the breast pump, giving herself a little high five. "Yes, Swan!" She whispers happily, glad she didn't make too much noise. "Right, okay you, Auntie Mary Margaret told me that this would work, so I'm sorry if I have to sit awkwardly for a moment."

Unfortunately, this time the baby doesn't respond and so she just shrugs, trying to figure out how to work the contraption for a moment, and is just pulling down her top when the door opens, making her gasp and drop the pump quickly.

A head pokes through the door and she breathes a sigh of relief to see it's only Killian, looking tired and confused but mostly concerned. "Swan?"

"How did you find me in here?" She asks softly, watching as he walks over to her, picking up the pump with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"The baby monitor, I could hear you speaking to her and wondered what the hell you were doing, but now I see…kind of. No, I actually don't, why have you got the pump?"

Sighing, Emma blushes deep red, biting her lip. "Mary Margaret told me that…stimulation can help induce labor, so I was going to use the pump and then hopefully wake you up to me hitting you and telling you you're going to be a dad."

He nods slowly like he understands, humming softly. "Did she also tell you to have sex, drink tea and eat spicy food?"

Biting her lip and failing to hide her blush, Emma nods quickly. "Yes, she did actually. But I wanted to try the pump…I thought it could work."

He passes it to her gently, moving to kneel next to her like he's waiting for something. "How can I help?"

Smiling softly, happy to know he isn't judging her (as if he ever would) for wanting to do it, Emma takes his hand and kisses it gently. "Just talk to her while I do it?"

"Done."

* * *

It doesn't work.

An hour later and they're lying in bed, his hand on her bump as he slowly drifts off to sleep but keeps accidentally waking himself up, with her boobs hurting more than they should considering the fact she did it for forty minutes and nothing.

Not a single thing. In fact, she feels further from labor than before…

She's not sure if that's actually possible.

* * *

The next day is strange for her, strange because the baby kicked a normal amount, she didn't have to pee as much as usual and Killian had been in the garden doing whatever he needed to so she barely saw him, which sucked quite a lot.

She had watched from the porch obviously, loving to watch the way his shirt strained against him as he worked in their garden, and licks her lips a little when she had watched him drink from his water bottle. It's as if he was deliberately trying to kill her with his looks, she really struck lucky when she got him.

And in those moments watching him, she made her decision.

She was already feeling a bit worse by that night and vowed she'd get that baby out of her no matter what the cost, she could sacrifice the perfect first time, she needed to. She can't take one more trip to the bathroom, she can't, and she just needs him.

So that night, when he's brushing his teeth, Emma stands in the bathroom door, wearing only her bra and panties, her robe over them to create the small element of surprise. "Killian…" She had whispered, her voice low and sultry, making him turn.

"Swan?" He leans against the sink, having just been flossing, so he throws away the little strip of floss. "Are you okay? Your voice sounds strange."

She fluttered her eyelashes at him, making her way over, and laid her hands on his chest gently. "I was thinking we should…ignore what I said before."

"I do that usually, but what about?"

Ignoring the urge to roll her eyes at the joke, Emma slowly pulls off her robe, glancing up at him under her eyelashes. "About this, you and me, sex…we shouldn't wait. That was stupid of me to say, and I think we should."

His eyes widened a little at the sight of her mostly naked form a little, and laid his hands on her bump gently, feeling the baby kicking. "Darling, as much as I would love to and as gorgeous as you are right now, we can't. I know you're miserable."

"I…I'm not miserable…pregnancy is just hard." She blushes. "Come on, don't tell me you don't want to."

"I do want to and I am rational too, we can't. And I don't think it's wise."

He slowly moves her to their bedroom, sitting her down on their bed down, sitting next to her gently, and sighs at the look on her face, seeing how upset and vulnerable she looks. "Come on, Killian, you know that if we just try, we'll both be happier."

"But Swan-"

"Oh come on! Why won't you humor me? Just do a sexy voice! Or bench press! Or something, just come on! I need this! It's actually getting ridiculous, I am two weeks overdue! NOT two days, two WEEKS! I am so uncomfortable, I'm so tired, I just need-"

He cuts her off, smashing his lips to hers hardly gently, pulling her closer, and she gasps into his mouth softly, obviously not having expected it, but kisses back quickly, pulling at his shirt to get it off, smiling into their kiss when he pulls at her bra strap.

As he moves his kisses down her jaw she gasps again, hearing something, sitting up quickly, and places her hands on her bump. "Wait, wait!" She places her hand on his thigh gently, smiling wide as she looks at him.

"What? What's happened, love?" He asks, his hands flying to her bump quickly.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one little chapter left between us and the end of this! :) :(


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I think my water just broke."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own OUAT, any of it's cast or characters or plots. However, I am a faithful watcher and I am very interested to see how season 7 will go. Anyway, this is the last chapter and I just wanted to say that you have all been lovely and fantastic and I thoroughly loved the support with this story, thank you so much for your continued support. Also, I may or may not do an add on where they get married, you know...if you want?"
> 
> Helping Hand
> 
> 3rd Person

" _I think my water just broke."_

His eyes widen larger than she's ever seen them, staring at her in a mixture of shock, worry, elation and absolute horror. "You're in labor? Like now?" He asks panicked, quickly jumping up and rushing around the room.

"Well yeah, that's what happens when your water breaks." She laughs softly, not worried at all considering she hasn't felt any contractions, it's not the time to worry yet. "Killian, take a deep breath, it's okay."

"It's not okay! I can't find the overnight bag, where did I put it?" He asks, opening every wardrobe door, his eyes wide and scanning their room. "Where are your clothes? Shoes? Purse! Oh why would you need a purse, I'm going mad! I need to call the hospital-"

"Killian, Killian, baby, calm, come sit down." She states calmly, pulling him by his hand to sit by her. "It's okay, do you remember what the doctor said?"

"No! I've forgotten it all, oh god, I'm awful at this."

"Remember, my midwife told us to stay at home until my contractions become frequent." He nods slowly, swallowing softly, trying to think. "When my contractions last thirty to sixty seconds and occur every five minutes, then go to the hospital, but for me, she said every ten minutes. Okay, we're okay. Now breathe."

He nods, starting to calm down after remembering the words the midwife said. "What can I do to help?"

"You can clear up where my water broke." She advises him softly, pointing to where it happened. "It'll give you something to do while I ring the midwife and tell her my water broke, okay?"

He nods quickly, swallowing softly, and grabs her some clothes, passing them to her before she leaves the room.

"Clean, right, clean." He whispers to himself.

* * *

After a few hours, Emma finally allowed Killian to drive her to the hospital when the contractions got to every eleven minutes, plainly because he was irritating her with all his pacing.

She just knew she'd be more comfortable at home, surrounded in their library room with all the books, maybe even cuddling on the couch on sitting in the garden with a blanket, watching a movie. Not stuck in a hospital, she hates hospitals.

At first, they had wanted a home birth, but she's very glad they've decided against that now she's seen how freaked out Killian has been.

A nurse and her oh-so-loving-irritatingly-charming boyfriend help her into a bed in a private room, something Emma had insisted on. She would not be sharing in any way, shape or form when she has her little one and she wants no one but Killian seeing her looking tired and sweaty.

Well, she doesn't really want Killian to see that but he won't leave and she doesn't want him to go.

Her nurse is friendly if not a bit annoying, over obsessing with making sure Emma puts her legs up on the stirrups even though Emma didn't want to, but the doctors wanted to use them in case she had a difficult labor like she did before, and she concedes just because the baby is more important than her comfort.

Killian is a lot calmer in the hospital, which is always a relief, and he's not yelling which is a bonus. He charms the nurses to get them to check Emma's progress more often than usual, and by the time they've been there for ten hours she's only dilated a small amount.

"Four centimeters, Miss Swan, it's going to be a long time." The nurse had said sympathetically and Emma was close to punching her.

"FOUR? I've been in this room for TEN HOURS and FOUR is how many I'm dilated! That's crap!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Swan, but there is nothing we can do for now-"

"Make her hurry up! This hurts like hell, why don't you understand? Why doesn't my baby understand how much it hurts? Oh my god! The wait is worse than the pain, you know, it wouldn't kill you to give us a TV to watch or something!"

"We do have Wi-Fi if you wanted to watch something on your phones and there's a charger cable behind you, Miss Swan." The nurse had replied sweetly, feeling sorry for her. "I can't do much else."

"OH for-" She stops herself, her hands flying to her bump, groaning in pain for half a minute before she lays back on the pillows, a little breathless. "Can you please see when I can have more meds?"

"Well, since you're four centimeters, you can have an epidural if you want?"

"Dear God yes."

* * *

She both regrets getting the epidural and doesn't regret it.

Epidurals hurt. A needle in the spine isn't fun at the best of times, but it's worse when she has to lean forward, holding onto the foot of the bed and Killian's hand as they lift up her hospital gown to bare her ass to the world before shoving a needle in her spine just as she gets a contraction.

It wasn't great.

* * *

The epidural worked as soon as she had it, which was a relief for her, Killian and all of the nurses, who were quite relieved to see she was spaced out and lying down on the bed, joking a little with Killian every time they saw her.

But, as she finds out seven hours later, the epidural doesn't last as long as she wished. It only works for a few hours and she doesn't want another needle to the spine, so she ends up going on gas and air, which doesn't quite help like the epidural did, but she'll survive.

The midwife had just checked her again to find she was only four centimeters along still, and Killian has already drunk enough coffee to give him the energy to run a mile in a minute, and she can see he's tired, but he stays awake.

A particularly bad contraction hits her and she cries out, pressing the back of her head onto the pillow, immediately feeling Killian's hand brushing her hair back, whispering sweetly to her.

"It's okay, Swan, you are doing so well." He whispers into her hair gently, keeping her calm. "I am so proud of you."

She shakes her head, trying not to cry, and he grabs the tube for the gas and air, offering it to her, and bites his lip when she inhales deeply. "Sh, it's okay, I promise. It's all going to be just fine."

His tries go in vain as she ends up crying anyway, holding onto him gently, his hand in a tight grasp with hers. "It's alright, Swan, I know it's not nice, but think about it, we'll have our little one soon."

She cries softly, inhaling from the tube again, breathing heavily.

"It'll all be okay."

* * *

After another two hours of comfort and holding her hand and listening to her crying he has to excuse himself for a moment.

He calls up David, standing near her room in case she calls for him, and sniffles softly. "This is so hard." He whispers. "Watching her in that much pain, it's killing me."

"It'll be okay," David tells him over the phone and he nods slowly.

"I know. It…it hurts me to see her and it's so much to even just stand there watching, I can't imagine how it is for her." He whispers, glancing into Emma's room to see her looking out the window, obviously a contraction has passed.

"I know, Killian, but she knew that when she wanted a baby, I promise this isn't anything new."

"I know…It's just torture to watch I can't even think about what she's doing…I have to go back to her now, I don't want to leave her too long."

"Okay, Killian, and remember, you're doing great. All you can do is be there for her, now get back in there."

"Thanks, mate."

* * *

After twenty-one hours, she's still only five centimeters, and he knows that Emma is panicking as much as he is, despite her best efforts to hide it. She keeps giving a few panicked breaths and cries at random times even when he knows she hasn't got a contraction, her hand hovers around her bump a lot and she keeps looking at the nurse desperately.

They end up having to get a new nurse, who introduces herself as Ashley, checking up on Emma for what must be the twentieth time. "I'm Ashley, I'll be looking after you for the rest of the night."

Killian tries to joke, stifling a yawn and holds Emma's hand close. "Thank God, I've been waiting for someone to do that my whole life."

He earns himself a chuckle and Emma even cracks him a small smile, which is like gold dust to him at this point, and he'd do anything, go to any lengths, to just see her smile once more during labor, just at anything, even something stupid.

Her small smile disappears when another contraction comes and she spends the next hour crying and complaining, inhaling gas and air when she's not needing comfort, which he gives her no matter what.

After twenty-six hours of labor, they're joined by their nurse and another doctor, who sits on the edge of Emma's bed, holding her file in his hand. "Miss Swan, Mr. Jones, I'm Dr. Whale. I've been looking over your notes, speaking to some of the nurses and found out it's been twenty-six hours and you're only five centimeters dilated."

Emma nods miserably, sniffling, and holds Killian's hand close. "She just won't come." She whispers softly, wiping at her eyes with her free hand.

"Miss Swan, first-time mothers prolonged labor is usually twenty hours-"

"But I'm not a first-time mother," Emma mumbles tearfully, wiping at her eyes again as more tears spill, and the doctor nods quickly.

"For a second birth it's fourteen hours, you are experiencing prolonged labor very severely, which could be potentially dangerous, especially since you have had a stillborn in the past. Now, in your notes, it says you wanted a water birth, however, after reviewing your condition-"

"Sorry, but doctor, to cut a long story short, will there have to be a C-section or not?" Killian asks, stroking Emma's hair, knowing that's not what they wanted, not what she wanted at all, he's pretty sure.

"Yes, Mr. Jones, we think that is best considering the circumstances."

Emma immediately shakes her head, crying softly, and whines unhappily. "No, please, I don't want it." She sobs into Killian's shirt, sniffling.

"Sh, I know, Swan, I don't really either. But it's for her, it's to make sure she's okay, love, and we have to, we can't risk it." He whispers. "And listen, I am going to be right there by your side the entire time, I'll hold your hand through it all, I promise you."

"But-" She cuts herself off in the middle of her sentence and looks into his eyes. "Promise you'll stay?"

"I promise, Swan."

* * *

Emma is prepped for the C-section within minutes and he gets into the scrubs he has to wear, following her as she's wheeled down to where it'll happen, seeing how she's starting to panic at the sight of where they'll put the baby, the blankets, the equipment they'll use.

It takes ten minutes since it was an emergency and they wanted to get her out fast, before they hear the sounds of the doctors cheering to them and they hear little cries, before a doctor holds up their daughter for them to see.

Killian smiles wide, staring at the baby for a minute. "Oh, Swan, she's beautiful, look how gorgeous she is."

Nodding, Emma tries not to burst into tears at the sight of her. "Killian, we have our daughter, she's here." She feels tears rolling down her face, and Killian strokes them away with his thumb.

"We have our Valentina."

* * *

Two hours later, Emma is cuddling their baby close, her little hand holding onto Killian's finger tightly as he has his hand hovering near her. "She's got a good grip." He comments softly, staring in awe at her.

She's got ten fingers and ten toes, and weigh seven pound and three ounces, which he contributes to the fact Emma ate way too much ice cream than any doctor would advise.

Valentina has a full head of dark hair and gorgeous blue eyes that will change over time, since all babies eyes are the color blue, although Emma swears that they are Killian's exact shade of blue.

She has her mother's nose but his mouth and elf ears, and she has Emma's naturally curly hair although it's dark, piled at the top of her head cutely, and she cries if she's too far away from one of them, which isn't often in all fairness.

Their nurse coos over how gorgeous she is, and asks for a name to put on her baby anklet that all babies have when they're newborns. "So, what's this little one's name going to be?"

"Valentina Mary Swan-Jones," Killian tells her softly but Emma shakes her head, telling the nurse not to put it, and he's struck with confusion. "Just Swan?" He asks, trying not to let the hurt of their baby not having his name at all show.

"No," Emma whispers softly, looking down at her. "It's Valentina Mary Jones, no Swan, not double barreled. Just Jones, I want her to have her dad's name, a name we'll hopefully all share one day." She blushes softly, and he's never been more elated to hear his own last name.

"Are you sure?" He whispers, kissing her gently.

"I'm sure. Swan came from a family who gave me away, I don't want her to have that, I want her to come from the Jones family, who will always love her and keep her safe, us." She blinks back tears, smiling wide, and watches Killian kiss their daughter's hair gently.

He smiles wide, pulling her closer gently, pressing a kiss to Valentina's little hand, before kissing Emma gently. "I love you so much, Emma Swan."

"I love you too, Killian Jones."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end, God I'm actually rather sad about it. Oh well, all good things must come to an end I guess, if this was good. I hope it was, I hope you enjoyed reading it and seeing I have updated as much as I have enjoyed all of your wonderful support.
> 
> Until next time, stay safe, stay happy, I love you.

**Author's Note:**

> That's chapter one finished! :) I apologise about the fact there's an insanely long doctors thing but I didn't know how else to slip in Emma's story about her baby, and also (to me at least) it shows the kind of beginning of what is hinting at something more between them. It all starts with little thoughts and feelings and you have to let it grow instead of just...being together. But there are fun times ahead so you'll have that to look forward too!
> 
> Anyway, comment or review or kudos or whatever it is that you do and let me know your feelings on this.
> 
> Thank you!


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